What a Difference a Father Makes
by spacecadetcm11
Summary: AU: What if Harley hadn't passed away prior to the events of the show? Zoe arrives in Bluebell after losing the Fellowship and begins her work at the Practice with her father there to guide her.
1. Chapter 1

**What a Difference a Father Makes: Pilot**

**AU- What if Harley had been alive when Zoe came to Bluebell? How would his being there have changed her experiance in this new world?**

**Disclaimer: First of all this is the first Fanfiction I've written in quite a while, so please be kind. The plan is for each chapter to follow an episode sequentially but by design the story line of the show will diverge significantly as things get going. Much of the dialog of this first chapter is pulled directly from the Pilot of the show, with slight alterations due to conformity with the plot. All credit for the dialog therefore remains with Leila Gerstein and the other creators of Hart of Dixie along with her wonderful characters who have been floating around inside my head for a while. I own nothing. If feedback continues to come back positive I will continue the story. **

"Doctor Hart? That was quite a speech."

"Thanks."

"My name is Dr. Harley Wilkes. I'm from Bluebell, Alabama. I have a small private practice there, it's a great place, with great people, and a great place for a young doctor to hone her craft. I'd like to offer you a job."

The first time he'd offered her the position, at the wonderfully inopportune time of her graduation from medical school, she'd turned him down. At the time she was right. Bluebell was nowhere near the plan for woman graduating top of her class from medical school. Anyone one would have agreed with her on that… except Harley. Funny thing how he turned out to be right.

Lucky for Doctor Zoe Hart, Harley wouldn't give up. So she laughed a little every time she got one of his postcards in the mail and set it off to the side. Within the next few years she'd racked up a nice little pile of them on her bedside table. Then the bottom fell out. Her boyfriend dumped her for caring too much about surgery. She lost out on the cardiothoracic fellowship, and at the same time the head of her department basically called her the tin man. And his suggestion? Become a General Practitioner. It was almost fate that she went home that night and found yet another post card.

"Doctor Wilkes, this is Doctor Zoe Hart leaving a message. You win. I'm on my way."

From the time she stepped off the bus in Bluebell it was clear she wasn't in the City anymore. But thankfully within minutes George Tucker had pulled over to offer her a ride. Without even knowing his name she agreed and quickly found out that he too had once been a New Yorker, but had instead chosen to return back to the small town without much of a second thought.

Finally making her way to the office listed on the cards Zoe took a deep breath looking up at the Victorian house that held the practice. The sign outside read "Wilkes Breeland Family Practice." Zoe bit her lip and considered bolting. Family Practice was not the plan, but where was she going to go? Back to New York? Yea right. Picking up her feet she hauled her bags up the steep steps to the door and stepped inside with a hitch in her throat. "Hi, Hello? Is Doctor Wilkes around?"

The woman at the desk looked over her glasses at her and rolled her eyes before looking back down at her crossword puzzle. "What rock have you been living under? Everyone knows Doctor Wilkes is on her yearly fishing trip."

"What? He just sent me a post card?" Zoe sighed looking around the room. Hadn't he gotten her message.

The woman looked surprised and stood up to shake her hand. "Are you Zoe Hart? Harley told me I might be seeing you soon. Excuse me for being surprised… it's just that Harley's been saying that for years now."

Zoe's eyes grew wide and she tried not to appear too concerned by that admission. Question one about Harley's motives, possible stalker? "So what now?

After a non-lunch out about town with the woman Zoe now knew to be Mrs. Hattenbarger she learned that Harley shared his practice with Brick Breeland, who was also away on a hunting trip. "I'm sorry did nobody think it was a bad idea for both doctor's in town to up and leave for the week? Shouldn't we tell one of them I'm here? I only have to stay a year and I'd really like to get started as quickly as possible."

"Trust me; you want to wait for Harley to get home and tell Brick about this little plan. This is not the sort of thing you tell an Alabama man when he's got his hog rifle locked and loaded."

Zoe sighed a little and looked around. This was going to be harder than she thought. The last thing she needed was to get in the middle of some sort of turf war between business partners. Thank fully her mind was soon occupied with the dancing visions of confederate balls past. Young women, all about her age, paraded through the town square in hoop dresses and Crinoline lace and she blinked for a moment trying to believe this wasn't some sort of Gone With the Wind inspired dream. "Okay, someone needs to tell the people of this town that its 2011. Dancing in celebration of the Confederacy? Really?"

"Doctor Hart, the Bells are elite young ladies chosen to keep our history alive." Mrs. Hattenbarger scolded, sounding just a bit insulted. "You can mock all you like but I just wouldn't too loud 'cause their meaner than they look."

Zoe rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh as one of the young women, dressed in butter yellow broke away from the pack to and glided over to them. "When I heard there was a new lady doctor in town I painted myself quite a different picture but you are just so pretty!"

"Zoe, this is Lemon Breeland." Mrs. Hattenbarger introduced.

Zoe reached out a hand to the young woman. "Oh, you're Brick's daughter. It's really nice to meet, I'm really looking forward to meeting your father. I understand he's hunting?"

"Oh Honey, he knows you're here… and trust me there will be a conversation between he and Harley when he gets back… Daddy can be quite imposing… but I'm sure he and Harley will get that all sorted out…"

Zoe nodded unsure of how to take the comment. Was she supposed to be concerned? Lemon hadn't said anything to her directly. "Well I just hope that he'll be willing to get a little more help. I'm sure I can learn a lot from both him and Harley while I'm here."

"And just how long will that be, may I ask?" Lemon inquired a little too sweetly.

"Hopefully just a year." Zoe smiled. There was no sense making an enemy of the distinctly southern lady. Zoe doubted they'd be running off for shopping trips or cups of coffee any time soon, but it was worth being friendly.

Lemon giggled and nodded. "Well you have a good day!"

Determined to get started on some form of work, and realizing that perhaps it may be necessary for there to be at least one doctor at the office, Zoe excused herself kindly to explore the practice and make herself comfortable. Upon walking into the old house again and looking around it occurred to her that she may not be getting her own office as both clearly belonged to the men. Rolling her eyes she poked her head into Harley's office and finally walked in. He wouldn't mind her being there, after all he had been the one to invite her, right?

Sitting down at the desk her phone rang and she looked down at the screen just long enough to see that it was her mother. "Mom…hi, sorry I haven't been answering. Actually there's something I have to tell you. I moved to Alabama. Mom? Are you there?"

She stared down at her phone for a second wondering where her signal had gone, but looked up to see a man standing in the room. "Is Doctor Breeland in?"

"He's hunting." Zoe responded as her phone started to blow up with text messages. She reached over and turned it off. "Sorry, I'm all yours. Are you hurt, sick?"

"Oh, I'm feeling as good as anyone one my age would. There was just some mixup down at the DMV. I don't suppose you could sign this for me?"

Zoe took the paper and looked down at it briefly. "I'm going to have to give you an eye test first."

Without so much as a passing direction from her the man stood the obligatory distance from the eye chart, covered one eye with his left hand and rattled off the letters quickly before switching eyes and going again. Zoe looked from the old man to the chart and back again. "You've done this before?"

"Like I said there's a mixup at the DMV… happens everytime I renew my license." He answered innocently.

Zoe bit her lip. Something wasn't sitting right here. "Right… listen I haven't had a chance to look over any of Dr. Wilkes notes yet, so I really don't feel comfortable signing anything yet… how about this… let's make you an appointment to see me next week after I review your file and then we'll see about getting you that eye test… "

Zoe led him back out into the reception area and snuck behind the desk. "How does 2:30 on Thursday sound?"

"Well I'd really like to get my license today…"

"I know, but I really can't just go around signing off on Dr. Wilkes patients without speaking to him first. You understand, I'm sure." Zoe smiled as nicely as she could, but that didn't stop the man from storming out the front door. "Great… I'm going to be very popular around here."

After the man left Zoe did what she could to settle further. It wasn't too long before Mrs. Hattenbarge returned with a patient sporting a nail through her hand. Zoe jumped up to make quick work and applied stiches just as neatly as she would have if it had been an open heart surgery. "I'm using subcuticular sutures so there will barely be a scar."

"Well it's not like I'm going to catch a fella now." The woman laughed. "Hey maybe you can give some dating tips to my daughter here. You know that thing about potato chips where you can't eat just one? Mable feels that way about lunch, don't you? She's always been chubby but she's put on a good half ton since that boyfriend of hers dumped her."

The woman's daughter, who must have been in her early twenties looked embarrassed and hurt. Zoe looked her up and down and noted that while she was overweight she looked more sad than anything else. Of course sudden weight gain always raised some read flags. "Mable, those dark patches on your face, how long have you had them?"

Mable didn't answer and quickly left with her mother, who muttered something about speaking to Harley about her. Zoe's brow furrowed as she watched them leave, but she said nothing. One thing she knew for sure, no good was going to come from getting involved in people's lives if they didn't want her there.

As the day ended Mrs. Hattenbarger, now fondly referred to as Mrs. H, explained to Zoe that Harley had planned for her to take up residence at the Mayor's plantation. Zoe was skeptical of the accommodations, but Mrs. H said it was that or the streets for the night and Zoe begrudgingly agreed to be driven just out to the estate. Mrs. H dropped her at the end of the drive and Zoe again made the trek alone up to a house she had never been to before alone. Ringing the bell with varying degrees of uncertainty she waited for this Mayor to open, surely with the same lack of warmth she had received from Bluebell's other residents. And then the door opened.

"No way! You're the mayor? Lavon Hayes the Line backer? Two Superbowls, five probowls…" Zoe couldn't hide her excitement.

"Four actually." Lavon responded loving the attention.

"Well I rounded up, you got robbed in '06." It was common knowledge.

"Oh, Lavon Haye's likes your math. You must be Zoe. Let me show you to your quarters." Lavon showed her around back of the large plantation house to the smaller Carriage house in dire repair the two becoming fast friends along the way. Of all the things that had happened that day, and everyone she had met, Lavon was defiantly her favorite. He was fun and welcoming, something Zoe really hadn't felt since arriving. So when the carriage house was a little less than she had planned for she decided to let it slide. After all, if she could repair a human heart how much trouble would it be to put up a few pieces of dry wall? "You share a generator with the guy in the gatehouse, looks after the place, Wade Kinsella. You got your curling iron going while he got his ac on could be trouble. Oh, and if you do decide to wander… keep your eyes peeled for Burt Reynolds…"

After Lavon left Zoe found herself alone again, this time in a borderline terrifying house full of stuff she would walk next to in an Antique store. Sighing she started unpacking her bags and moving things around until it was homey enough for her to attempt to calm down. One year, she kept tell herself. One year of family practice and she would be back to the grind. She might as well use this time to relax and recover from the stress of residency, right? So rather than move any more furniture around she set up her radio, turned on some calming music, climbed into and started to read a book that didn't outline the best way to open a chest… until the lights went out.

Wade. Lavon had warned her and she hadn't really believed him. She checked her phone, it was only 8:00, too early for anyone under the age of 50 to be going to bed. She wasn't even tired. So without thinking too much about it she pulled on an overshirt and a pair of boots and made a brisk hike over to the gate house to have a discussion with her new neighbor.

Upon entering what could only be described as a southern man's bachelor pad she found the plaid clad man, about her age, surrounded by women and playing Guitar hero. If the sight hadn't been so annoying she might have thought the tall muscled blond was hot. But no. He was in no way the type of guy she could ever be caught dead with… no partying with half dressed women. "You over heated the Generator."

"I'm Wade… nice night gown." He nodded to her smilling , not acknowledging her statement. The truth was, as rude as his behavior may have been she was the one who had marched into his house to yell at him… and he'd been living there longer…

"That smile might make all the girls at the church social swoon, but it's not going to work on me." Zoe hissed a little more harshly then she had intended.

Wade leaned toward her with an even bigger grin. "Well if you're not going to be polite, I'm going not going to show you where the fuse box is. Good night."

Annoyed Zoe stormed out, not noticing how Wade watched her intently as she left. Okay, she thought to herself, that's at least five people in town who hated her already. Awesome track record. Needing to clear her head she decided to go for a walk down the back driveway of the plantation. Wade hadn't needed to be such an ass about the fuse box. Hadn't Lavon said that it was his job to keep up the place? Well her electric was part of the place so he had to fix it…right? A growling sound pulled her out of her thoughts and she jumped a little at the sight of a giant alligator standing in her path. So she screamed…. And someone grabbed her to pull her to safety. It was George.

"Hey, what?"

"Alligator!"

"What? I have some mud in my ear, what did you say?" He asked again, mocking though she didn't notice.

"Alligator!"

"An Alligator? Well that is an emergency. You stay here." He turned to face the creature in question, stared it down and gestured it off. "Beat it Burt."

Amazingly the Alligator turn and waddled off the road without some much as a huff. "That was Burt Reynolds, the Mayor's pet alligator…His favorite movie is Smokey and the Bandit."

Pet Alligator… Zoe rubbed her eyes and wondered what in the world could possibly come next. "Alright… great…I've got to go…"

"Hey, wait. I know you're a New Yorker and all, but down here in Alabama when someone interrupts their nightly jog to climb into the mud to save our well-toned ass we say thank you." George laughed scolding her.

Zoe smiled and blushed a little. "Thank you."

"See small towns do have their perks!" George waved goodbye, heading back out on his run, while Zoe walked back to the carriage house.

The next morning came much earlier than Zoe would have like with late night phone call from Mrs. H.

"Zoe, did you sign Old man Jackson's eye exam for the DMV today?" Her voice was accusatory and Zoe immediately sat up in bed wondering what could have sparked such a question.

"No… I told him to come back next week and talk to Harley… Why?"

Mrs. H sighed with relief and softened her tone. "Cause he just ran someone over… Can you get down here please?"

So once again Zoe found herself wandering through the back Alabama woods that night, this time in quite a hurry to get back to the office. Upon walking in she saw Mrs. H waiting up for her in the lobby looking worse for the ware. "Well Old Man Jackson got his nephew to drive him over to another doctor in Mobile… He's legally blind. Everyone knows he's memorized the eye chart… all you have to do is open his chart. He nearly killed George Tucker!"

"George?" Zoe asked entering the exam room to find her new friend still in his jogging cloths clutching his arm. "If you wanted to see me again you could have just asked. "

George winced in pain. "It's my shoulder."

Zoe nodded went about examining the injury. "It's dislocated. It's no big deal, I just have to put it back into place."

George nodded preparing himself for whatever she would tell him next, but she didn't say anything. She just stuck him with a needle when he wasn't looking. "What the hell?"

"That's just the morphine, that's the easy part. Baby." She commented like he wasn't in total pain.

"I'm sorry you got hit by that car… I never would have thought that sweet old man would have been that sneaky…" She told him just before ripping his bone back into place, again like he wasn't in any pain at all.

"Oh you did it again! Have you never heard of bedside manner?" The poor man called out in pain.

"Why is everyone so obsessed with that?"

"Because it's nice!" He yelled before promptly passing out.

"Good, morphine's working." She shrugged before looking up to find a teenage girl holding a flip cam in the doorway

"OMG! It's true."

"Rosie, honey, come on it's time for bed." Mrs. H followed the young woman into the room.

"Aunt Emeline, this is breaking news!" She scolded back. "Rose Hatenbarger, beat blogger for the otherwise torpid official town website. So, how does it feel to save George Tucker, town Golden boy?

"I didn't save him…" Zoe laughed.

Rose set down her camera. "Off the record, why would anyone leave New York. New York is everything, and I know. I read the daily Intel and own all the SATC DVD's. Bet you're a Carrie. I'm a Charlotte, but I wish I was a Carrie."

Zoe wasn't quite sure how to respond. Was that what New York had come to for the rest of the country, just an image from Classic HBO? "Actually, I am a Meranda, who also wishes she was a Carrie."

Rose smiled warmly. "I knew you and I were going to be friends."

"Well I guess I could use a friend."

Mrs. H poked her head back in the room again. "Damn straight. Brick's here…"

Zoe held her breath and waited. Of course he'd come back into town before Harley. Of course she'd have to meet him on her own without the guy who hired her there to back her up… This was going to be fun…

Brick walked into the room, surveying the scene still wearing his hunting jacket and looking more than a little put out at being called back from his trip. He nodded to Rose and greeted her fondly like a member of the family.

"We haven't met, I'm Doctor Zoe Hart." She held out her hand to him but he didn't shake it. Instead he tucked his hands deeper in his pockets and studied her a little harder.

"As far as I'm concerned you're the girl who's decided to practice medicine in my office without my permission… and spoiled my huntin' trip. How dare you see my patients."

Zoe paused. "Well technically, Harley hired me… so I work for you… and that makes them my patients too… and I didn't ask you to come back from your trip… As you can see, I've got things under control here."

"Miss Hart, Harley hired you without discussing it with me first… I see you have met my lawyer. George and I will be having words with Harley when he returns. When he's conscious he doesn't lose." Brick walked over to George to examine her handy work.

Zoe sighed and glanced around for Mrs. H to come and help her. "You haven't even given me a chance. I believe I can do some good here. I can help you."

"Well bless your heart." Brick sputtered. "Well things have been working just fine here in Bluebell. We survived Katrina, we survived BP, by boarding up the windows and piling up the sand bags to keep the rot outside from fouling our community. And believe you me Zoe Hart, we care going to protect this town. Come Hell or high waters."

Unsure what to say to the older Doctor Zoe turned on her heals and left the practice, walking through the dark town again and finding herself at the only store open. The Dixie Stop liquor store and quick mart. Upon entering she ran into none other than Mable again.

"Bad Day?" The young woman asked.

"You have no idea."

Mable laughed. "Yes I do. You met my momma."

"Yea well my mom isn't exactly supportive either. I have sixteen messages on my phone right now telling me just how unsupportive of this move she is." Zoe stopped and looked at the girl again. "Mable, the dark patches on your face. You have melisma. You knew you were pregnant, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marble went to walk away. "I haven't taken a test."

Mable explained that she and her boyfriend had only slept together once. That she'd been fighting to keep him from leaving and given into his requests. He'd left anyway and she was left feeling stupid after he was gone. Zoe's heart broke a little for the girl.

"Well you need a Doctor. Here's my number. Call me if you need anything, okay?" Zoe smiled graciously. Mable took it smiling and headed off just as Zoe was hit head long by another Breeland.

"Zoe!" Lemon ran into the Dixie Stop looking a mix between Heartbroken and relieved. "Do you realize that my engagement party is tomorrow? What am I supposed to do? The photographs, the memories their all going to be ruined."

"What?" Zoe stared at her in utter confusion. "I'm lost here. I may need a roadmap back to your train of thought."

"Oh come on! My fiancé was in a car accident!"

"You're engaged to Old man Jackson?" Zoe laughed a little at the thought.

"No silly, I'm engaged to George Tucker… and now his arm and his face…" Well that made a little more sense.

Zoe nodded and sighed. Suddenly everything came into view; why Brick had returned from his trip when she clearly had everything under control, and why Lemon looked like she might explode at any moment. "Okay, well we can do what we can to fix that… the pictures at least, George's arm is going to take a while to heal. But he doesn't have to wear the sling while you're taking pictures and I'm sure we can get some cover up to take care of that scrap… Would George wear makeup? You know him better than I do."

Lemon stopped for a moment and stared at Zoe, forgetting her own worries as the young Doctor brainstormed how to save her event. "Daddy said you were the one who fixed George up tonight… is that true?"

"Well I was the only Doctor in town at the time…" Zoe rationalized. "Like I said, it was just a dislocated shoulder."

Lemon smiled weakly and tried to calm herself down a bit. "Well thank you just the same Doctor Hart. I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to George… really thank you."

"You're welcome Lemon… although I don't think Brick sees it the same way."

"Yes well Daddy is stubborn. As Doctor Wilkes has gotten older he's taken on more and more of the work at the practice, running himself to the bone really." Lemon added thoughtfully. "A younger Doctor coming in to help just makes him feel older I think… but don't worry, we'll make him come around. I always say he works too hard."

Zoe smiled at the blond woman finally feeling that she may have a slight foot hold in town. "I appreciate that Lemon. I really do. I hope you have a really nice day tomorrow… why don't you bring George over to the office before the party and maybe I can give him something to numb the pain a little more… you know make it easier for him to have fun."

"Oh well…" Lemon considered for a second. "well, why don't you just bring it with you when you come Zoe. I'd love to have you there. The party will be an excellent chance for you to meet everyone else in town."

"I couldn't impose."

"Not at all!" Lemon gushed. " We have an empty seat since Harley won't be there. He's off fishing with an old friend. Poor man just lost his wife and Harley just couldn't let him be alone… so now you can take his place. Really, I insist."

Zoe thought for a second and shrugged. "Okay, I'll be there. Thank you."

"No, Thank you again, Doctor Hart." Lemon reached out to touch her arm in a kind, almost motherly kind of way. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Zoe watched Lemon glide away from her again and finally let out a long breath. Okay, so maybe the entire Breeland family wasn't so bad. The only problem being that Lemon's fiancé turned out to be the only man in town that Zoe could possibly find herself attracted too. But that wasn't an issue really right? If there was one thing that Zoe Hart knew how to be it was in control of herself. Looking around the store again Zoe realized there was nothing there that she really needed so she said a quick goodbye to Mable and walked back out into the night.

Walking back calmly through the back Bluebell roads to the Plantation Zoe thought back over the course of the day and determined that while all the Harley's patients seemed to like him better, at least she hadn't killed anyone. That was something right? Her goal for the day had been to get started and that meant protecting her bosses interests, which she had done, even if one of them was a little less than appreciative. She was lost in thought when a red muscle car pulled up alongside her, dragging her back out of her thoughts.

"Nice first day. Everyone knows Old Man J memorized the eye chart." Wade called from the car at her, following slowly beside her as she walked

"I'll remember that." Zoe kept walking. "Don't you have some cow's to tip, Waaade."

"Owww.." He continued to follow her. "I'd offer you a ride but I don't want you getting any ideas."

"Right. Because you are just at the top of my priority list." She scoffed looking further down the road. It had to be at least two miles back to the carriage house. But there was no way in hell she was getting in that car. No way in hell.

Wade kept following her. "Well I can't have you walking out here by yourself. You might run into another alligator…"

"How did you know about that?"

"Are you kidding, I heard you screeching like an owl all the way back at my house." He laughed, smiling that charming smile again.

Zoe stopped and turned towards the car appalled. "And you just left me out there to die? Thank you very much."

"Hey, cool down Doc. I was on my way out there to help, and probably laugh at you a little, when I heard Tucker send Burt off." He smiled warmer. "I wasn't about to let you get bit, but I sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt Golden Boy's white night moment either."

Zoe relented and rolled her eyes. Okay, so he had come. That was something, right? "I guess I'll take that ride now… if you're still offering."

"Never really did… but get in." Wade stopped the car and let her climb in the passenger seat. "Like I said; no ideas Doc."

"You're gross." Zoe laughed and they drove the rest of the way without speaking. As she exited the car outside the Carriage house Zoe issued a quick thank you back at Wade through the still open window.

" Any time Doc." He called back. "By the way… I fixed the fuse box… and I'll try to be a little more careful next time."

Zoe blushed a little as he drove off, watching his car make its way back to the gatehouse while she stood on her front porch. Once the lights of the car turned off again she turned to walk back inside, but opening the door she stopped dead in her tracks. "Mom?"

"What the hell are you thinking?"

Apparently the plan was that Zoe would NOT be sleeping on her first night in Bluebell. Like, at all… After finding her mother in the Carriage house the woman had made her explain herself completely, forcing her to rehash losing the fellowship and Harley's relentless drive to convince her to move to Bluebell. Her mother was not moved by the story. In fact she acted as if it was the most ludicrous thing she had ever heard. Her first instinct was to tell her daughter that there had to be some other way of getting the fellowship back without being in Alabama. She even pulled in the big guns stating that her father felt the same way about the move.

Zoe was surprised. Her parents hadn't spoken in nearly seven years, and even then it had been primarily through lawyers as they settled their divorce. "You talked to Dad?"

"He called me after he got your message. How do you think I found you?"

Zoe was a little touched that he had reached out to her mother, until she realized what else that meant. " Why would he call you instead of me?  
"Oh, you know you're father."

Not really, Zoe thought to herself. Ever since he had moved to Europe their conversations had become few and far between… in fact, ever since her parent's divorce they hadn't exactly been close. But that was because he was a doctor, right? Because he was busy and she had her own life too…

"Let's go Home." Her mother pushed. "You don't belong here."

Zoe sighed and looked down at the cup of coffee she was holding. "I don't know mom… I just got here. Don't you think I should give it a shot at least? I mean, Harley put his partnership with Brick on the line just to get me down here… I need to at least wait until he gets back to hear what he has to say."

Her mother looked put out. "Zoe you belong in New York… or at least the city. If not home, then go to Boston or DC somewhere a little more like how you were brought up… I really believe that's what's best."

Mother knows best. Zoe halfheartedly nodded along with her, too tired to think properly. What she really needed was a nap. It had been a long couple of days and all she could think about was curling up to go to sleep. So she waved off her mother and curled up on the couch, drifting off a sleep a little to the familiar sound of her mom chatting away on her cell phone. It was five thirty before she woke up again and blinked to find all of her bags repacked and sitting by the door.

"What's going on?" The fog lifted from her mind as she sat up. "Mom?"

"Oh good, your awake. We need to get going dear."

Zoe stared at her confused. "Going?"

"Yes, I booked us on the next plane back to New York. Just like we agreed…"

Oh crap. Zoe shook her head. Physiological warfare was her mother's best friend. She had caught Zoe in a moment of weakness and managed to use it to her advantage to undo everything her daughter had accomplished in the last day. "No mom… I told you. I don't want to leave until I've spoken to Harley…"

"Zoe…"

"No, really…. Listen I've got to get ready to go to an event in a few hours, but why don't you stick around and we'll talk when I get back. Okay?" Zoe jumped up and grabbed her bag back from the door before riffling through it to find something just dressy enough for the engagement party.

"You've been here five minutes, what even could you possibly have to go to in a cocktail dress?" Her mother called after her as she shuffled into the bathroom. Doing her best to ignore her mother calling out to her from the other room Zoe went about putting on her dress and doing her hair. It wasn't until nearly a half an hour later, when she was already to go that she suddenly realized that she had no idea where in the world the Breeland's lived.

She said goodbye to her mother who looked more than a little bit exasperated and made the walk back to Lavon's house to ask for a ride.

"Zoe Hart you're going to Lemon's engagement party?" Lavon skeptical.

Zoe nodded. "Crazy, I know. But Lemon asked me herself and I just couldn't say no."

"Alright girl, well get in the car." Lavon laughed leading her out to his SUV.

Arriving at the Breeland home several people in town looked Zoe up and down as she entered the party on Lavon's arm. Brick saw them enter and instantly made a beeline for the pair.

"Miss Hart, I don't recall inviting you to my home."

"Brick…" Zoe smiled, unsure what to say.

"Actually Daddy, Zoe is my guest. Isn't that right Zoe?" Lemon appeared out of nowhere attempting to smooth things over. "I invited her last night…"

Brick started to argue but Lemon raised a hand to quiet him. "Daddy, you've always raised me to be a lady, and I do believe being welcoming to new members of town is just good manners. Zoe, honey, why don't you just let George here show you to the bar and introduce you to some of our friends. Lavon, can I please speak with you in private…. The fundraiser for the covered bridge is coming up and I would really like to discuss who you think should be given the role of guest of honor."

Brick looked absolutely baffled by the change of events as Lemon led the Mayor away and Zoe let George guide her towards the refreshments table.

"How's the arm?" Zoe asked, taking note of the fact that Lemon had managed make the sling he was wearing match his suit. And no makeup, which Zoe took to mean that Lemon wasn't nearly as worried about the day's pictures as she was about her fiancé.

"It's doing okay." George nodded. "Brick gave me some pain medication so I should be okay for a while. How about you? Starting to find your bearings yet?"

Zoe looked around at all the guests and shrugged. "Getting there. Of course my mom showed up and demanded that I come back to New York immediately… but I think I'm going stay. It might be good for me here. You know… if Brick ever stops hating me and Wade ever stops trying to turn off my power."

George threw back his head a little as he laughed. "So you met Wade. Aww he's not as bad as he seems. He's just a good 'ol boy is all. A little rough around the edges but mostly harmless."

"A friend of yours?" Zoe asked raising an eyebrow. The two men seemed to be polar opposites and she could hardly see them hanging out.  
George smiled and nodded like he knew how crazy it sounded. "All our lives. In fact my groomsman would be here right now if he hadn't gone and got himself banned from the party…"

Now that seemed a little more likely. Zoe laughed and shook her head. "How did he do that?"

"Told Lemon she looked like a stick of butter yesterday… she took great offense." George laughed like it was the most normal thing in the world. "My fiancé can be quite the formidable opponent."

"Or ally as I've found out." Zoe looked back over at Lemon who was in the corner speaking to Lavon in hushed tones. Those two must have done quite a bit of work together in their respective roles in the town because they looked to speaking to each other in a very comfortable manner. "I really appreciate you and Lemon inviting me today. Really I do."

"Well it's our pleasure Dr. Hart. And may I just say again, welcome to Bluebell."

Zoe smiled widely and nodded, thinking to herself that maybe Bluebell was not the worst place to be. George took the next several moments introducing her around to several other members of the community before Zoe was pulled from the table she was at by a tap on the shoulder from Mable.

"Doctor Hart? Remember how you said you would be my Doctor if I needed one?"

Zoe looked at the young woman who was obviously in pain. "What's wrong?"

"I keep having this pain, every few minutes or so… But I'm working and I just can't…." Mable stopped, using the handrail closest to her on the porch to hold her up as she experienced another shooting pain through her abdomen.

"Mable how long has it been since you slept with your boyfriend?" Zoe asked, wondering exactly how pregnant the young woman was.

"I don't know….January?" Mable looked up terrified before doubling over in pain again.

"Okay, we need to get you inside. You're having this baby…" Zoe whispered pulling her into a closed off room hoping to get some semblance of privacy for the young mother.

It wasn't too long before Mable's yells of pain began to alert the other guests at the party to her condition and Zoe wasn't at all surprised when Brick finally walked in asking what the hell was going on. Zoe explained the situation as best she could, but surprise upon surprise Brick insisted that he would be the one to deliver the baby.

"No no no." Mable demanded. "Don't you come near me. Doctor Hart and I are in this together. She's my doctor."

Zoe didn't say a word as Brick stepped back and allowed her to take back her place helping the girl. Sighing he ran his hands through his hair and went about gathering the necessary equipment to deliver the child. Within minutes Mrs. H had arrived to help and together the two women went about the process of guiding Mable through the birth. Brick, being stubborn sat off to the side supervising. The baby was two pushes away from being born when Mable's pain intensified in a way uncommon for childbirth and Zoe requested that Brick come to help. The infant was lodged against her pelvis and the only way to get the baby out was to perform surgery right there in Brick's den. Brick of course was initially against letting the young doctor attempt something so dangerous but Zoe knew it was the only way to save mother and child. So despite his warnings Zoe did what she had to do and Brick finally snapped to help. Mable's daughter was born without any further complication.

"A Baby, you've got to be kidding me?" A voice came annoyed from behind them and Zoe turned to find the same sour look on Mable's mother's face that she had seen the day before.

"I have a patient recovering here."

"Doctor Hart, it's okay." Mable whispered beside her. "Look at mom, I made a beautiful perfect person. How she grows up, how she looks at herself, that's on me now. And I'm not going to expose my baby to you. So please get out."

Zoe watched in awe as the older woman left the room looking put out. Mable's strength that day had truly amazed the young doctor; Stepping up to the biggest challenge of her life without any falter when she hadn't even seen it coming. Twenty four hours ago Mable had just been a local girl on her own with no real plans for the future, and here she was now suddenly a mother and willing to take on the world. Of all the cards Zoe had been dealt as of late none were nearly as difficult as Mable's and she hadn't handled any as gracefully.

Giving mother and daughter a chance to bond Zoe stepped out into the hallway and finally took a breath of relief.

"I hear you've done some fine work Doctor Hart." A new voice came from behind her and she turned around to face an older gentleman still in his fishing gear. It had been nearly four years since she had seen him but Zoe instantly knew him to be Harley.

"I thought you were on a fishing trip." Zoe smiled walking over to him to shake his hand.

"Just got back into town a few moments ago, thought I would come by and wish the happy couple congratulations and of course I felt just a tad guilty at having left you to your own devises right to start." Harley smiled at her more warmly than anyone ever had. "Bluebell seems to be agreeing with you quite well Doctor Hart."

"Some of it is."

"Harley! Back from your trip I see." Brick walked back into the hall pretending to be cordial. "I've been waiting to talk to you regarding the practice, do you have a moment? We'll just slip right into the dining room and hash this out..."

Harley smiled which Zoe took to be his usual good natured response to everything. Brick turned back to her and pointed to a chair in the corner. "Why don't you just wait right there Doctor Hart, I'm sure this won't take long."

Uncomfortable with the situation Zoe considered just sneaking back out into the party, especially since she could hear every word coming from Brick in the other room. Being referred to as a mistake, and reckless, and a crazy whim of the other doctor's were not her idea of a good time. But curiosity got the better of her and she stayed, listening quietly waiting to perhaps here the real reason Harley had brought her down there.

"Do you not think I can handle this Practice?" Brick questioned. "We have a contract Harley. A binding legal document that say I have the right to know who you're hiring and I have the right to say yes or no."

"That's right, you do…Brick its more complicated than that." Harley did what he could to calm his longtime friend. "I respect you as a Doctor and as my partner, but Zoe needs to be down here… "

"What is so special about this girl that she has to be here Harley? Why in God's name does that high falutin' New York surgeon need to be down here seeing my patients?" Brick questioned harshly.

Silence followed as both Brick and Zoe waited for an answer. Zoe sat in the chair staring at her hands biting her lip and questioning her decision to stay for the next thirty seconds that seemed to pass like molasses. Finally Harley's answer came just loud enough that it rang like a bell in Zoe's ears. "Because she's my daughter, Brick."

All the air left the room and Zoe thought she might faint. Barely thinking she stood up and walked out of the house quietly, back down the drive and back towards the plantation. She got to the end of the block before she realized she was lost and sat down on the curb.

"You okay Doc?" Wade once again called out to her from his car. "You look a little lost."

"Hi… would you mind giving me a ride back to the plantation? I don't think I'll make it on my own."

"Hop in." He smiled at her widely. Again they didn't speak, pulling up to the carriage house much the same as the night before, only this time her mother was waiting for her outside with a limo. Zoe said thank you and goodbye to Wade and climbed out to face the music.

"Finally your back. We have to get going I have wine chilled in the car for us." Her mother hurried.

"Why do you really want me to leave so quickly mom?" Zoe asked suspiciously. "Is it because you don't want me to meet Harley again?"

"What? Oh don't be silly."

"Or is it because you don't want me to find out that he's my real father…" Zoe stood her ground. Her mother turned back around, every muscle in her face having fallen at the realization that the truth was out.

"Oh my god. Zoe, I can explain."

It hit her like a ton of bricks when she realized that this was her mother admission of guilt. It was all true. She hadn't really believed it until now but Harley really was her father. "What's there to explain? That my entire life has been a lie? This is the answer to everything isn't it? Why Harley wanted me to come down here so badly, why dad stopped loving me? Because I wasn't his to love. He knew, didn't he?

"When you were ten you fell off the swings. They thought you would need a transfusion, but when he donated blood…" Her mother tried halfheartedly to explain. "He tried to stay in your life but I guess it was too hard."

"That's why he left?" Zoe asked finally understanding what had caused her family to fall apart. "And what about Harley? Why would you keep us apart. He's my father."

"He was a mistake. I met him on a cruise. It was Greece, he was handsome, older a gentleman, it was a fantasy. But I was engaged to someone real."

"Did you love him?" Zoe asked quietly, thinking of the kind old man who had complimented her work that night.

Her mother rolled her eyes at the romanticism. "It does not matter. I did not belong with him, just a my child does not belong in a place like this. I gave you a father who was from our world. I protected you."

"You gave me a father who ran. You gave me a lie. It should have been my choice." Zoe stepped back from the woman she had thought she knew.

Her mother shook her head like this was the stupidest conversation she had ever had. "I'm sorry Zoe, really truly deeply sorry. But can we just go home and discuss this in therapy like normal people?"

"You go. I'm staying here." Zoe hissed before turning on her heals and going inside to unpack her things. She heard the car drive away a moment later and shook her head at the fact that her mother honestly didn't have anything else to say to her. She thought of her father, and her heart broke a little more. He'd known this whole time and never told her. More so, he'd known this whole time and left her to wonder if it was something she had done to make him leave her. Then she thought of Harley. He'd never attempted to change her world, just asked that she become a part of his without explanation. Could she forgive him for coming in at act two and attempting to pull her back from the brink without so much as a reason why?

The next morning Zoe got up and dressed unsure of how to face the day, but knowing that she had to keep going somehow. Walking up to the practice she paused before walking through the front door and considered what it was going to feel like to see Harley again knowing what she knew now. Taking a deep breath she stepped inside and padded quietly over to his office and knocked on the door.

"It's open." He called back and she reached out to twist the handle gently before stepping inside. "Oh, Doctor Hart… I was wondering if I would see you again."

"Can I just…" Zoe tried to get her bearings. "Growing up I was told that to be a surgeon I couldn't let myself feel. But then I came to Bluebell. All the food here is fried. The whole town smells like mold. And clearly the sex education system is lacking… but maybe you could use a good Doctor? One who cares about her patients? Maybe there are some things you can teach me? Nobody ever believed in me the way you have… You've been sending me those postcards… You knew one day I'd be lost… and maybe following in your footsteps for a while I might find my way?"

Zoe wiped a tear from her eye as she finished waiting to see the old man's reaction. Harley sniffed a little and stood up from his desk before walking over to her and pulling her too him in their first father daughter hug. "I would like that very much Zoe. Very very much."

Zoe pulled back and took a deep breath before nodding. As emotional as the moment was she still felt the pull to distance herself a little. She need to learn to love this man as much as he appeared to have loved her from afar. "Okay… so where do we start?"


	2. Chapter 2

**What a difference a father makes: Parades & Pariahs**

**Author's Note and Disclaimer: Due to so many reviews and support I have decided to continue this story. As I stated before I am for the time being following the basic outline of the show, and because of this once again I am giving all due credit to Leila Gerstein and the creators of Hart of Dixie for use of their dialog and their vivid characters. As always I own nothing. Thank you all again for your feedback, please continue!**

Waking up with a Bull Frog in your lap… yea, she was defiantly not in New York any more. It was officially day four of Zoe Hart's Bluebell experiment and once again she had to convince herself that this really had been a good idea. The day before she had gone to Harley and admitted that maybe, as a father and a doctor he might have a few things to teach her and thus officially became an associate doctor at the practice. Brick hadn't been thrilled, but he hadn't argued either. Zoe took that to mean that while he disliked Harley hiring her without consulting him, he certainly wasn't going actively keep the man from getting to know his daughter. Even so, Zoe had a feeling that Brick would be making things far from easier for her in the coming months.

Rather than poke Brick, the angry bear, Zoe and Harley had agreed that she would start work today and give Lemon the previous evening to try to soften her father to the idea. So Zoe had woken up bright and early, all bight with an amphibian in her lap, and gotten ready to finally start showing this town how good of a doctor she really was. Hoping to help his new friend off on the right foot Lavon had graciously offered to give her a ride and pickup coffee with her on the way. The more she was seen as a friend of the Mayor's he said the more her popularity would rise.

"So Harley is your father?" Lavon verified after Zoe relayed the events of the past few days.

"My biological father, yes… and I have to admit, it kinda feels like a sign that we're both Doctors."

"You believe in signs?" Lavon asked. After knowing the young woman only a few days he already understood her to be a woman of science and not someone to follow her gut. This may have just shot that all to hell. "Did you ever think that maybe your momma just has a thing for Doctors?"

Zoe rolled her eyes and sighed as they came up The Rammer Jammer. Lavon had insisted that they had the best breakfast in town, and who was she to argue. "Gross… maybe… but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know who I am at all… clearly Harley Wilkes and Ethan Hart are two very different kinds of Doctors, and maybe I've become too much like the wrong one. So I'm here to walk a mile in Harley's shoes, which by my calculation should take me around Bluebell about eleven times."

"As the mayor of this town Lavon Hayes takes offence." Lavon joked. "But as the co-chair of the tourism counsel I will ignore it to tell you that any journey on the eastern shore begins at The Rammer Jammer, home of the best Po'Boy this side of Mobile Bay. You in?"

"Well I'm here." Zoe laughed and let him lead her into the restaurant.

The Rammer Jammer was like nowhere she had ever been before. It was an older restaurant with a homey feel, and clearly the place to be for all of Bluebell. Framed town newspaper clippings covered the walls, and any space that was left was filled with old fishing gear and University of Alabama memorabilia. Sitting down Lavon introduced her to those sitting around them. Tom Long, a man in his early twenties instantly began asking her about the celebrities she knew in New York, all the while flirting as hard as he could, and Dash DeWitt, a portly older man regaled her with his stories of going to New York to visit the theater. Zoe just nodded along with them. Clearly Bluebell's idea of what it meant to be from New York was limited. Again Zoe wondered what shows like Sex and the City had done to the perception of her City. Finally the waitress, a spunky young woman name Shelley had shown up to inquire on their order… and Zoe's romantic life… and not in that order. Unsure of anything on the menu she relied on Lavon to order for her.

Shelly brought the food out quickly and Zoe looked down with skepticism at her plate; grits, Bacon, and eggs… basically your standard heart attack. Zoe poked at the grits and looked back at Lavon doubtful. "I don't think I can eat this."

"Aw come on. Their just grits girl! A little butter, a little pepper… it's like oatmeal."

Zoe shook her head. "You don't put butter on oatmeal Lavon… fine I'll try them…"

Wrinkling her nose as she raised the fork to her mouth she waited for the goopy mess to reach her mouth. Finally tasting it she had to admit it wasn't bad… it wasn't great either… but it wasn't bad. "Exactly what I thought grits would taste like. Delicious. I'm going to fit right in here."

Lavon laughed shaking his head as a large group of people filled the room in costumes and glitter. Zoe looked horrified and raised an eyebrow at him in wonder. "This Saturday is the Founders Day parade! My favorite event of the year."

"You were in the NFL for ten years and the Founder's Day parade is your favorite event?" Zoe laughed.

"The mayor gets to ride on the best float and deliver a speech." Lavon explained before waving at Wade, who had just walked in to come and join them. "Wade my boy, how's the float coming?"

Wade leaned over one of the table chairs and flashed Zoe a smile. "I'm just putting on the finishing touches. So Doc, I hear you're staying in town. If you ever need a cup of sugar, anything… I'll be right next door…"

"I'll keep that in mind…" Zoe blushed again, hoping to God he didn't notice. "But if that line ever works for you, tell that poor girl to come see me at the office so I can dispense penicillin."

Wade smiled again and shook his head. "Harsh Doc, harsh."

Zoe raised an eyebrow and smiled sweetly as he walked away, trying hard to avoid letting Lavon see that she was totally checking out his friend as he left. "George said he's not as bad as he looks."

"George sees the good in everybody." Lavon chuckled. "But yea, Wade's okay. I just wouldn't expect his idea of sugar and yours to be the same, if you know what I mean. "

Laughing again Zoe nodded and looked down at her grits again. She'd once read that it takes doing something twenty times before it becomes a habit. Maybe it would be the same with this food? She took another bite and hoped for the best.

* * *

"Watch out for Mrs. H today." Harley greeted his daughter as she walked through the front door of the practice later that morning. "She's been baking again, trying to find the best recipes for the place she's opening with her daughter, and she'll try to make you test everything… I've already had four."

"I'll do my best. Thanks." Zoe laughed as she followed him into his office, but stopped as soon as she noticed a second desk placed by the window. "Is that for me?"

Harley glanced over and waved it off like it was nothing. "Well you need a place to work and I thought it best if you were in here closest to my files. At least initially you should have some spare time to read over them and get to know some of my patients. I've done what I can to keep them as thorough as possible."

Zoe picked up one that he had placed on the desk to be looked over. "You treated warts with ducktape?"

"Sometimes the old ways are the best ways my dear." Harley laughed. "Why have the patients spend money on expensive remedies that don't work as well and cost twice as much?"

Zoe shrugged and smiled. Okay, so maybe this wasn't going to be exactly the type of medicine she had imagined. "I guess if it works…"

"Exactly. As long as it works. Remember Zoe, "Do no Harm" should refer to the patient medically, psychologically, and financially." Harley stated moving back behind his desk to put on his stethoscope. "Bluebell is a community, and as a community we take care of each other."

Now that wasn't what they had told her at medical school… no fancy equipment, no running vast amounts of tests… where was the medicine in this medical practice? "Right so… what do you want me to do today? Any patients you'd like me to see?"

"I think for now you should just shadow me for a bit. Get the patients to trust you." Harley nodded to himself thoughtfully. "Speaking of which… I had been meaning to ask you… how would you prefer to be introduced to the patients?"

"What do you mean?" Zoe raised an eyebrow.

Harley laughed nervously. "Well would you like them to know you're my daughter or would you prefer that they view this as a purely professional position?"

Zoe was taken aback. She hadn't really thought about it. Harley looked at her expectantly, and she could instantly see how unnerved he was by the waiting. "Well I am your daughter… and I'm here to get to know you, so I guess we should jump all the way in here… so sure, you can introduce me as your daughter. That's fine."

The instant that she said it she knew that it was the right thing. Harley looked instantly relieved and she too felt like a slight weight had been taken off her shoulders. It had been a long time since she had had a father who wanted to claim her as his own and it felt nice to know that Harley cared enough to tell the world.

Mrs. H poked her head in and broke through the slightly awkward moment. "We are open."

"Our first patient today is Ms. Shula Witticker. She's a regular. We have a standing appointment every Monday at nine." Harley said leading her into the slightly full waiting room. "Shula, would you please come in? This is my daughter, Dr. Zoe Hart. She's going to be working with me for a while and she'll be observing today."

An older woman in thick cat eye glasses walked comfortably into the exam room clutching her wooden purse the whole way. She considered Zoe thoughtfully but said nothing about her being there. "I'm glad you could see me today Dr. Wilkes. I've got chills, and achng limbs and it's hard too… well it's hard to pee…"

Harley nodded and handed held out a thermometer for her to put under her tongue. "Let's just take a look shall we?"

Zoe stood back watching, eyebrows raised. Harley took a note on his clip board and nodded his head thoughtfully. "Well it looks like your fever has completely broken again… I don't know why it is that we just can't seem to catch this bug of yours when it's actually affecting you Shula. I'll tell you what…"

He turned and crossed over to his desk and pulled out a small prescription bottle. "I'm going to use the same prescription we've been using because it seems to be keeping things at bay… hopefully we won't see any more of those nasty spots appear again."

Shula took the bottle carefully and tucked it back in her purse. "Oh thank you Doctor Wilkes, thank you!"

Harley shrugged kindly. "Now how are those cats of yours?"

Twenty minutes later Shula left Harley's office with a smile on her face and slight jump in her step. Zoe, however, looked more perplexed than ever. "You do realize that she came in presenting with symptoms of the Black Plague, right? That disease hasn't been present in the general population in hundreds of years. What could you possibly have given her?"

Harley laughed and sat down. "Shula has been coming in to see me biweekly ever since her mother passed away four years ago. She's lonely Zoe and she needs an excuse to talk to someone. So I give her a bottle filled with tic-tacks and we talk about her cats for a while and she goes on her merry way feeling better. That's what we do. Make people feel better."

"But don't you think it's a little enabling? Just giving her tic-tacks?" Zoe again followed him out into the hall.

Harley shook his head. "Not at all. Shula's my neighbor and my friend, and if she needs to make up an excuse to come have a conversation I have no problem doing that. Like I said Zoe, Bluebell is a community. Now next time she comes in I think you should be the one to see her… one more friend has never hurt anyone."

Zoe didn't know what to say. Nobody had ever told her to be friends with her patients before. In fact in Surgery that was largely advised against. How in the world were you supposed to take someone's life in your hands when you were emotionally attached? But that was the voice of Ethan Hart talking in her head. Exactly the voice she was trying to drown out. "Okay, what next? Small pox next?"

* * *

The morning moved quickly from then on, although Zoe had quietly began to feel like a lump on the log as she watch Harley work with each of his morning patients. There was no doubt, he was a great doctor who truly cared about everyone who walked through his door, but she was a little unsure about the way he seemed to know everything about everyone. By lunch time Zoe was tired of feeling useless and volunteered to go gather lunch for everyone to give herself something to do. It was walking through town that she ran into Rose, looking truly sullen for a perky fourteen year old.

"Thank goodness you're staying!" She greeted.

Zoe smiled. "I know; I'm having the best time."

Rose shrugged and ran over to walk with her. "Well I need your advice, because my mother does not get it and all Aunt Emiline does is bake these days."

"Yea tell me about it." Zoe shrugged. "She already stuffed five cookies down my throat this morning. I keep taking them because I'm afraid she'll just give them to Harley if I don't and the last thing we need is for him to go into cardiac arrest… What's going on."

"Okay, well there's this boy." Rose gushed, teen love filling her eyes. "Fredrick Dean, in the grade above me. He's amazing. He likes history, pod casting, and comic books. But he's also a stupid southern man stuck in an antiquated notion of the female ideal, which is why it seems he hasn't noticed me."

"Fourteen isn't easy for anyone." Zoe nodded knowingly. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Rose shrugged looking at Zoe for advice. The problem being, Zoe had no idea. She laughed and told her young friend that if she had that figured out she would be married to Mr. Big by now. Rose giggled a little and looked defeated. This wasn't helping she told Zoe, but all the older woman could do was shrug her shoulders. George waved at her from across the square and Rose looked back at Zoe with a questioning look, indicating that she thought there might be something more than friendship between the two adults.

"That's nothing Rose." Zoe laughed as George made his way over to her. "It is possible for a man and woman to be friends you know."

Rose nose wrinkled in disbelief. "I'll just go sit on the other side of the square and read your lips."

George arrived just as Rose left watching her go in a hurry. "What bee's chasing her?"

"Oh, you know, teenage fantasies. How are you?" Zoe asked with a smile letting him walk with her in the direction of the Rammer Jammer.

"Fine, fine. Lemon's got me building the Belle's float for the parade, and then there's work on top of that, so I'm a little swamped. You?"

Zoe thought. "You'll be happy to know that Harley is giving me a crash course in bedside manner, so the next time you get run down by a crazy old man I will know that the best thing to do is ask you about your wedding plans before pulling your arm back into its socket."

George chuckled and nodded his head in the typical southern way. "Very good to hear Doctor Hart."

"So this parade? It's a big deal around here?" She asked as they came up to Lemon who was directing the dancing bunch of girls around the square.

Lemons ears must have perked up and she walked over, cutting George off before he could answer. "Only the highlight of the Belle's season! Founders day is Bluebell's graceful nod to our past… you are going to come, aren't you Zoe?"

"Umm…" Zoe looked around at all the preparations. It certainly wasn't the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade or anything, but it was quite a spectacle they were putting together. "Lavon seems pretty excited about it so I may come by…"

Lemon blinked at the name of the mayor and she got visibly ridged. "You and the mayor certainly seem to have gotten quite close rather quickly."

"Lavon?" Zoe asked surprised by the notion. Was Lavon a potential love interest for her she considered for a second; well he was nice, and more than willing to help her around town… but no, he already felt too much like a big brother for that to ever happen. "He's becoming a good friend. He's kind of making it his mission in life to introduce me to southern traditions."

An eyebrow raised on Lemons face and she instantly returned to her southern belle nature. "Well isn't that nice. Isn't that nice, George?"

George nodded his head, only half listening to the conversation now. "Yes very nice."

Zoe was just about to excuse herself to go pick up the food when Mrs. H came hurrying out of the Practice calling too her. "Zoe! Zoe! Harley just got a patient in and he would like you to come consult please… quickly…"

"Excuse me." Zoe waved goodbye from the pair and practically bolted across the square. "What is it Mrs. H?"

"Cole Malisker is in the office. His legs aren't working." Mrs. H explained leading her inside.

Zoe looked a little surprised. Paralysis… this was more than she would have thought here in Bluebell. Harley met her on the way into his office and gave an approving nod. "I'm glad we caught you Zoe. I'd like to do an exam on Mr. Malisker and let me know what you think the problem is, alright?"

"Yea, sure." Zoe smiled, happy to finally be taking a patient. She did a full exam on the man and ruling out a stroke she found herself at a loss with only a few possibilities. Turning back to Harley as Mrs Malisker looked panicked for her husband she spoke quietly. "Well there are a few things it could be, but it could be Guillain–Barré. I recommend we call an ambulance."

"Guillain–Barré. "Harley repeated, looking just a little amused. "Come with me Zoe."

He led her back over to the exam table where his patient laid looking worried. Carefully Dr. Wilkes lifted the man's shirt and looked under his arm. "This is Deer hunting season, Cole is suffering from tick paralysis. Sometimes those little devils get up there and you just can't move."

Harley expertly removed the tick and held it up to show Zoe. "It's a pretty common ailment down in these parts Dr. Hart… You are all set Cole. Now please remember that when you go stomping through the woods you really need to be wearing tick resistant clothing. Temporary paralysis isn't fun, but Lyme's disease is worse."

The couple left the exam room looking relieved, but Zoe sunk down in her chair feeling stupid. "Tick paralysis in New York is rare. So rare that it doesn't even happen."

"It was an innocent mistake Zoe." Harley smiled. "But it's just one of those things that you have to know about to be a small town doctor."

"I'm going to be treating a lot of bug bites, aren't I?" Zoe grumbled looking out the window at all the nature that surrounded her.

Harley chuckled and sat back down in his chair. "Yes, you will. But what makes a bite less important than a gunshot wound or a heart attack? They all hurt, and they can all be life threatening."

"I guess so…"

"We've slowed down for the day, why don't you go home for the night and we'll pick up again on Wednesday after the festival." Harley finally said. "Just take a few more files and review them, alright?"

It was only one o'clock and Zoe looked surprised at the fact the Harley seemed to believe they were done for the day. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I am. Brick has the on-call phone for the night. I'll be here until four finishing my notes for the day. You go out and meet some more young people. Make yourself some friends."

Zoe didn't know what to say. Never once had anyone directed her to go have fun. Not once. It was always, work hard, get into a good school, work hard there and get a good job, work hard there and become the top, make lots of money and become a legend… "Are you telling me to go as my father, or my boss?"

Harley looked up from the file he was notating. "Both, now go."

* * *

Later that evening Zoe sat contemplatively in Lavon's kitchen, keeping him company while he cooked dinner. "So Harley says I have to make more young friends."

"Then you've come to the right place. Lavon Haye's has a 99.8% approval rating." Lavon boasted pridefully. "Key to success in Blue bell: Show the people you're one of them. Harley always does."

"I ate grits, what more could a woman give?" Zoe joked… kinda.

"Join me on my float in the parade tomorrow." Lavon invited. "You show up on Lavon Hayes' side people will see you're one of them. People will forgive you anything if they see you trying to fit into this town. All you have to do is help Wade with the finishing touches on the float."

Zoe's breath caught in her throat a little. Helping Wade meant being in close proximity to Wade and at this point Zoe hadn't quite decided how she felt about that yet. Sure he'd given her a couple rides around town as a favor, but as of yet she hadn't really gotten over his rudeness at their initial meeting. But then again, he wasn't bad to look at. "I'm not really good with power tools…"

"Well you can paint, can't you?" Lavon asked smiling at her hesitation. "Just leave all the heavy work to Wade and you can take over the decorating and such…. It won't be that hard. I'm sure he'll appreciate the help."

"Okay…" Zoe shrugged. "What do I need to do…"

"Well the parade is tomorrow, so you best get yourself changed into some work cloths and head out to the barn behind the Rammer Jammer. That's where all the floats are being put together. Wade should be there now."

Pushing herself off the stood Zoe saluted Lavon for the direction and headed off to get to work. If she wasn't any use at the practice she might as well make herself useful in other ways. Arriving at the barn she once again ran into George and Lemon working together on the Belle's float. Lemon waved kindly and pointed the way to the Mayor's float, obviously distracted by the need to make sure everything was perfect. Zoe heard her declare that the Belle's float had to be the highlight of the parade, just as it had been for the past hundred years, and anything short of perfection was just unacceptable. Zoe rolled her eyes, starting to understand how Lemon viewed the world.

Coming around the tractor that was supposed to pull the float Zoe's eyes widened at the sight of the trailer bed that was supposed to be holding the nearly finished float. Wade was sitting beside it leisurely drinking a beer as she walked up. "You've barely started!"

"Well, heard I was getting a helper. Figured I would wait…" He explained, looking over her outfit of tight jeans and a tank top with interest. "Knowing how capable your hands are… being a doctor and all…"

"Can we just build this and get it over with?" She did her best to move out of his gaze. "What is all this chicken wire for?"

"You've never built a float before?"

"That's surprising?" She scoffed, picking up the chicken wire with slight distaste.

"Well this is what Lavon wants," he pulled a drawing out of his pocket and handing it to her. "an actual Crimson Tide, the mayor will surf it."

Zoe looked down at the drawing and back at the trailer completely overwhelmed.

"I'm going to go get some paint… Do you think you can handle that?" Wade asked before pretty much bolting in the opposite direction. Zoe looked down at the drawing again and back at the chicken wire. The answer was no. No way could she "handle it." She had no idea what the frick she was doing, but Wade was gone before she could argue and all that was left to do was suck it up and try to get started. She was sure he would be back eventually to help her, right?

It was nearly two hours later when Rose showed up, and Zoe hadn't seen hide nor hair of Wade. And the trailer? Well at least it had a nice surrounding of chicken wire… it was all she could think to do. Rose looked just as distraught as she had earlier in the day.

"There you are!" Rose walked over to where Zoe was struggling to staple gun the chicken wire. "You know somethin', I have been looking everywhere for you! What are you doing with that chicken wire?"

"I did not do a surgical rotation in scrapbooking." Zoe huffed looking pathetic. "What's going on?"

"Fredrick Dean is going to the parade with Magnolia Breeland." Rose looked like she might cry.

Zoe sighed. "Lemon's sister? I'm sorry."

Rose nodded. "Which totally explains why he hasn't noticed me."

Zoe didn't know what to say. It had been a long time since she was a teenager and even then she hadn't exactly been the most popular with the teenage boys. After all, staying home on weekends doing homework till all hours and writing papers for extra credit don't exactly make you popular in high school. "You want to get noticed? You should ride with us on this float tomorrow. Apparently it's the key to legitimacy, popularity, even success in this town."

Rose looked thrilled. More than thrilled. "Me, ride on the Mayor's float! OMG!"

The enthusiasm radiating from her young friend made Zoe smile. "There's one catch. You have to help build it."

"Yea, okay." Rose shrugged.

Zoe held out the staple gun. "That stupid Wade disappeared two hours ago and I have no idea what I am doing."

"Of course I'll help you." Rose took the tool willingly. "But I'm pretty sure that Wade is at his house. I heard music coming from there when I went to the carriage house to find you."

Zoe saw red. He'd just left her there? Who does that? "Really? You start in on this, I'll be right back."

* * *

Stomping back through the woods to the Gate house Zoe cursed Wade up and down. He'd just up and left her, who clearly had no idea what she was doing to build a float? People had to ride on that thing tomorrow! What if she had monumentally messed up and it wasn't structurally sound? What if Lavon saw it and was upset? What if Lemon threw a fit having that ugly thing riding in front of her pristine float? Bottom line? Wade was a jerk and any question she'd had about disliking him before was solved now while she trekked through the mud and grim to get to him.

She found him exactly where she thought she would, sitting on his couch strumming his guitar without a care in the world. "I should have known you would try to pull a stunt like this. You are the most irresponsible person I have ever met!"

Wade didn't even look at her, just kept strumming on his guitar. "You sound a bit more upset than the situation calls for Doc. It is just a parade."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but, it is the Founders Day parade. Lavon is counting on us." Wade sat back letting her go, waiting patiently for an opening as she got started. This might be a fun little rant if she really got going. "I'm counting on us. For some reason I need the people think that I fit into this town. And my father, who I only met four days ago is going to be disappointed and I may never get patients… and I know it sounds…"

Wade, who had been quietly standing up as she spoke cut her off by pulling her into a deep kiss. Zoe was thrown by the move and instinctively kissed back for a few seconds before pulling back in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"You were freaking out." He rationalized, still standing very very close to her. "I figured I would snap you out of it with my generic beer breath."

She stared at him completely thrown, all comments she had made about him while walking through the woods now gone. She touched her lips lightly as he brushed past her and out towards the door. It had been a while since she had been kissed like that… who was she kidding she'd never been kissed like that.

"What are you gappen' at?" He turned back to her smirking. "We've got a float to build don't we? Come on girl!"

Flipping his shirt over his shoulder Wade led her back out to his car without another word, Zoe following still stunned by his actions. What the hell was she supposed to take from that?

It took Zoe, Wade and Rose all night to finish the float. Well, Kinda. Wade and Zoe had sent Rose to sleep in the hay for a few hours around midnight and worked quietly together until dawn when the teenage had gotten up with just as much energy as ever and Wade had suggested that Zoe herself take a nap. "Come on Doc, we can't have you with bags under your eyes riding with the Mayor can we?"

She'd relented and fallen asleep watching him nail down the waves to the trailer while Rose rattled on and on about Frederick Dean. Before she'd been completely overcome by sleep she remembered the bemused smile on his face as he listened to the young girl wax poetic about the boy. It was the same smile he had been giving her since she arrived. The scary thing was that she kind of liked it. It was sweet until she woke up a few hours later and Wade's smile had turned into a completely annoyed frown.

"Frederick Dean. He has two first names." Rose swooned. "I mean, somethin' about that is so old school cool. And OMG I saw him reading Chew the other day, and that is like my favorite comic book, but I didn't know how to tell him…"

"Kid, Do I look like iCarly to you?" He finally had enough. "If I hear the name Fredrick Dean one more time I'm going to hot glue your lips together."

Zoe sat up in the hay to watch as Rose balked back about romance and she had to keep herself from laughing as Wade shook his head and looked her way. "Well good morning sleeping beauty!"

"How long was I out for?"

Wade stood up and helped Rose down from the now finished float. "Just a few hours. What do you think?"

Zoe had to admit, once he'd buckled down and actually got to work, Wade knew a thing or two about building floats. "You guys this looks…"

"Astonishing!" Lavon finished her sentence coming to stand next to her. "I knew you guys wouldn't let me down. And Rose Hattenbarger, well since you are joining us, will you do me the honor of wearing the Alabama costume?"

"I'd be honored!" Rose squealed again.

"Good." Lavon smiled mayorally. "No you all best be getting cleaned up before I let you all ride the wave with me… hurry back though, pancakes for all your hard work before the parade, my treat."

* * *

Rose ran off quickly and Zoe resigned herself to riding back to the plantation with Wade to get ready. Once again finding herself in his car she suddenly found herself to be more chatty than she had in the past. "Is it really such a good idea for Rose to wear that costume today? I mean the whole point is for her to get noticed by Fredrick Dean, is wearing a Yellow Hammer costume really conducive to that?"

Wade smiled, happy that she was even talking to him. "Doc, I think you're failing to see how truly important Alabama Football is down here."

"But he won't even be able to see her face…" Zoe looked so confused. "I thought the point of all of this was to make her more attractive."

"Yea well, so long as everyone knows it's her up there flapping around then that might be just enough." Wade smiled over to the Doctor and winked. "Some guys, just the idea is enough to get them all shook up."

She scoffed and tried to hide her blush again. "Gross."

"It's true." Wade laughed again. "So I've been meaning to ask you, there's this rumor going around town that you're Doc Wilkes daughter. Any truth to that?"

Zoe nodded, a little surprised that it had taken so long for someone to ask, and even more surprised that the person to ask had been Wade. "Yes Harley is my father, and no, I didn't know until I got down here. It was just as big a shock to me as it apparently is to everyone else."

"Wow… I didn't know the old man had it in him."

Zoe looked at him offended and snapped back "Didn't have what in him?"

"Well I did mean the ability to have such a hot daughter…" Wade looked in front of him trying not make her more upset. "… but if you're going to be like that."

He thought she was hot, Zoe thought to herself, not letting him see how much the idea thrilled her. "Sorry, I may still be a little sensitive to the issue."

"Makes sense." Wade commented pulling into her driveway. "I'll pick you up in about a half an hour okay, and we'll head back over to get ready for the parade."

"Yea, okay." She agreed climbing out of the car. Looking back again from the porch she watched again as he drove the rest of the way and parked outside his house, she wasn't entirely sure why she kept doing that, but it seemed to ease her mind a little.

* * *

True to his word Wade had shown back up at the Carriage house thirty minutes later and the two had gone to meet Lavon and Rose at the Rammer Jammer and to Zoe's surprise they found Harley at the table as well.

"Good morning Zoe!" Harley greeted happily. "Wade."

"Morning." Zoe sat down next to him feeling just a tad more comfortable. "Are you coming to the parade?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Dear." Harley nodded, watching carefully as Wade sat down next her. "Of course, when I sent you to make friends I never imagined that this would be what you came up with."

"Yea well, go big or go home, right?" Zoe glanced at Wade and Rose smiling. "Making the float may have done more for me than actually riding it will."

"Aww Doc, we're touched." Wade joked, throwing an arm over her shoulder and pulling her to him in a half hug.

Zoe giggled and pulled away jabbing him lightly with her elbow. She smiled at him wider and looked back at Rose with a glint in her eyes. "I think I might like it here."

* * *

The parade went off without a hitch, and true to Lavon's word the majority of town seemed to think more highly of her now than they had before. After the event was over and Wade had helped her down from the float Zoe walked around town with Harley enjoying seeing everyone's deep admiration for the man. Harley too seemed to be enjoying himself, introducing the people he truly loved to his daughter for the first time. The more times he called her his daughter the more Zoe found herself comfortable hearing him say it.

After a while Lemon approached them smiling, still in her Belle dress. "Well that was quite a float Doctor Hart. You really did do a very nice job."

"Yea, well Wade did most of the work." Zoe glanced across the square at him where he was doing his best to help Rose with Fredrick Dean. She found it sweet, especially after he had put up with her young friend all morning.

Harley shook his head. "That's not what I heard. Lavon said the three of you were up all night working on that float. The mayor seemed very impressed with your efforts."

"Just doing what I can to help out." Zoe shrugged. "Your dance routine looked real nice Lemon. I don't think I could ever do anything like that."

Lemon shook her head disbelieving. "Well it does take a lot of practice, but I don't know, from what I hear you may just have it in your blood. Isn't that right Harley?"

"I see your father has filled you in Lemon." Harley shook his head chuckling. "But yes, Zoe, our family does have a rich history of Belles. Your aunt, my mother, my grandmother, all Belle's."

Zoe raised an eyebrow and bit her lip. "Well isn't that… wow..."

"Of course you're more than welcome to join Zoe." Lemon said earnestly. "You are a legacy."

"…But it would be completely your choice dear." Harley told her noting her deer in the head lights look.

Zoe smiled as nicely as she could. "You know what… I'm still new in town. How about we come back to this great idea later… you know… after I've had time to get to work in a practice a little more… and get to know everyone in town… then we can talk about me maybe joining the belles.."

Lemon smiled sweetly, and nodded, silently relieved that she could maintain her belles just like she always had. "That sounds like a just a marvelous plan Zoe. You get yourself all established here in town and then we'll talk about the belles if you decide to make your stay more permanent."

Lemon excused herself back to the other girls kindly, leaving Harley and Zoe to themselves again. Zoe sighed and looked around town. Everyone looked so happy and comfortable with each other, nothing like New York. The truth was that it made her just a tad uneasy and intrigued at the same time. Harley guided her back to the office for a while after people started to disperse and they sat down in his office with two cups of coffee.

"I wanted to let you know that yesterday was Mrs. Hattenbarger's last day here at the office." Harley said with a sad smile. "She wanted to stay to help you get settled, but she's been planning to move out to Shreveport with her daughter. They bought a bakery there and Mrs. Hattenbarger is going to run it."

"Well that explains all the baked goods." There was a tugging in Zoe's heart at the thought of one of her first friends leaving.

"She's going to come by your house later to say goodbye. She leaves tomorrow. I didn't want you to come into work tomorrow and be surprised when she wasn't here."

"Thank you for telling me." Zoe nodded sipping her coffee.

"I'm very proud of how you've handled yourself since arriving in town Zoe." Harley glowed with the same pride he expressed. "And you couldn't have picked better friends."

"Even Wade?" Zoe asked. "I caught the look you gave him at breakfast."

"Wade Kinsella is just that… a Kinsella." Harley sighed. "I've known him all his life, in fact I was the one to deliver him into this world, and I know what a good man he can be… but as your father? Well there are certain parts of that man's personality that make me want to keep you locked up in this office until your fifty."

Zoe rolled her eyes, but thinking back to the kiss she and Wade had shared she felt warm inside. "Trust me I can take care of myself… I know Wade is a player, but we're just friends. That's it."

Harley looked doubtful. "Okay dear."

* * *

Later that night after the sun went down Mrs. H stopped by the carriage house to say good bye to Zoe. She smiled at Zoe as they talked about the bakery and Zoe could see how big a dream this had really been for the older woman for such a long time. The two women hugged on the front porch before Mrs. H left and Zoe stood out there thinking as she drove away. Looking the short distance across the yard at the gatehouse she saw Wade sitting on the porch drinking beer and strumming on his guitar again. For a second she considered going back inside and going to bed but decided against it and instead stepped off the porch and walked through the dark to Wade's dimly lit home.

"Evenin' Doc." Wade smiled as she walked up the steps looking a little unsure. "Sit down, have a beer."

"Thanks." She accepted the bottle from him and sat down in the Adirondack chair next to him. "Long day, huh?"

"Oh yea. How excitin'." Wade waved his hands in mock joy. "Just another one of this town's crazy events. There's at least one a week 'round here."

"Well it was a big day for me…" Zoe took a swig. "Got offered a place in the belles."

Wade nearly spit out his beer looking at her with wide eyes. "You are kiddin'."

"Nope." Zoe laughed. "I actually think Harley wants me to join."

Wade stared at her for a long while, studying her physic and face. "Nope don't see it. Your nose doesn't point high enough in the sky to be a Belle… Do you think you'll try?"

"Not a foggiest chance in Hell." She smiled at his assessment. "Don't get me wrong. I want to fit in, but I don't think there is a chance of me trying that hard to fit in."

Wade seemed to like her answer and the two out there chatting for a long time that night about everything and nothing before Zoe went home bed. After all, she did have to get up in the morning and go to work.


	3. Chapter 3

**What a Difference a Father Makes: Gumbo and Glory**

**Disclaimer: As always I must give the majority of the credit for this chapter to Leila Gerstein and the other wonderful creators of Hart of Dixie, not just for the bits of dialog I have used but also for the basis of the episode and once again the characters. As you'll find this chapter again takes the story line of the episode and turns it on its head. Forgive me for largely sidestepping the large medical issues, not being a doctor myself I find them difficult to relate into words and not wholly necessary to the story I am telling. Thanks again for all the feedback, please continue to review. **

7:30 am. That's how early it was when Wade decided to blow the fuse box for the fifth time with his new amp. 7:30 am. Zoe was up brushing her teeth and watching the morning news when her power went out. She sighed and nodded to herself, looking across the yard to his house, pretty positive that the party had gone on all night. Not that she hadn't been invited, she had, but one can only watch a bunch of girls in cut offs dance around for so long. Because that was only type of party Wade seemed to know how to throw; ten girls that looked like they had just finished filming a beer commercial and maybe she and Lavon.

Zoe hadn't gone the night before, instead opting to stay in for a quiet dinner with Harley at his apartment above the practice. She could have gone over after they were done of course, Harley went to bed at about eight every night so it wouldn't , and she knew she would have been welcome but being there often reminded her just how different from this world she really was. Every other time she had gone she had ended up sitting on the couch watching the girls swoon over Wade, and he of course knew just how to react to them, but her… well around the other girls their conversations stalled into this weird silence.

After spitting out her toothpaste Zoe pulled her hair into a messy bun and slipped on her rain boots over her pajamas before making the jaunt out to the fuse box to survey the damage. Coming up on the electrical box she studied it with a critical eye. She'd studied surgery; somehow she could fix this jumbled mess of metal and wire. Or not. But when in doubt poke it until it works. Grabbing the closest stick to her she jabbed the box, a little fearful of the noise it made whenever she hit it. The third time she hit it sent popping fire into the air.

"Well hey there Doc," Wade came from behind her amused by her attempt at home maintenance. "Notice whenever I come around there's always sparks?"

Zoe rolled her eyes and considered throwing the stick at him. "If you like that wait till you see my Taser."

"Do you want me to help you fix it?" Wade asked, reaching out for the stick before she hurt herself. Zoe let him take it looking defeated.

"The fuse keeps blowing because of your new amp." She accused pointing at him.

Wade looked at the box skeptically and back at her. "My guess is your overloading it with all your girl stuff."

"Yea, that's me with my girly Wi-Fi and my silly cell phone that I only use to look at pictures of ponies." She reached back for her stick, a little annoyed that he wouldn't just admit it was his fault.

He threw the stick off in the distance away from her and shook his head laughing. Zoe, however, stubbornly grabbed another and poked the box again, causing even more sparks to fly. "Okay, I'm going to get a bucket of lake water so when you catch on fire it doesn't spread my way."

Zoe threw another dirty look back at the box and sighed. "You're a lot of help you know that?"

"Any time Doc!"

* * *

Week two at the practice and while Harley had finally let Zoe start to actually treat patients under his watchful eye, Brick had gotten in the habit of absconding most of the more interesting cases out from under her. So once again she was treating poison ivy, which as it turned out was very common in Southern Alabama. "So my momma said that if I didn't get Katie's bike back I couldn't come back in the house and…"

"And that's how you ended up climbing through the weeds behind the boat house." Zoe finished for the boy sitting on her exam table. "What is this, the fourth time you've been in here his week? Please stop hiding your sister's stuff all over town. She never finds it and you've fallen off two ladders trying to get it back. Trust me, Jake; this is for your own good."

The kid considered this and looked over to Harley who was sitting in the corner pretending he wasn't listening. "But…"

"Seriously, I don't care how many of your Legos she melted with her easy bake oven at this rate your mom is going to be paying for my new car." Zoe tilted her head to the side. "How about this, next time Katie does something to make you mad, just go tattle to your mom. I hear that's what brothers and sisters do. Of course I wouldn't know, because I was a lonely only child who didn't have a sibling to torture."

Harley coughed quietly pulling her back on track. "Get to the point Zoe."

"Right, the point… Stop getting yourself hurt kid…" Zoe let him jump down and head for the door. "And don't forget to get a bottle of Calamine lotion from Didi at the desk."

Harley stood up quietly as Zoe removed her gloves. "You know? I'm amazed that I have yet to get poison Ivy, or poison oak, or poison sumac, with the amount that has come across my table this week…"

Harley chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "And what have you learned?"

"I've learned that the best way to get back at Wade for the cicada he put in my closet the other day will be to stick a sprig of each at the foot of his bed." Zoe smiled triumphantly.

Harley sighed. "With great power comes great responsibility."

"That's not what Machiavellian said." Zoe took Jake's file out of the cabinet and carefully wrote down his ailment, and exactly what had led up to it. "But regardless, how in the world do I get off calamine duty and convince Brick that I should actually be able to see a cut or a scrap around here? Doesn't he ever just want an off day? He knows I work for him too, right?"

"In the time that you've been here have you ever seen Lemon delegate any of plannin' or leadership duties to any of the other Belles?" Harley asked. Zoe shrugged her shoulders with a resounding no. "Well who do you think she learned that from? It's the nature of a Breeland to believe that it's better to do it correct yourself than have someone waste your time doing it wrong."

"I wouldn't do it wrong!" Zoe shot back offensively.

Harley rolled his eyes. "I didn't say you would. I'm just saying that Brick does not trust you yet to believe you wouldn't. The best thing I can suggest to do is find somethin' challenging outside of work and prove yourself to the man, and maybe he'll start to come around."

"How do you know that's how he'll react?"

"I've known the man since he was ten years old. Trust your old father on this one." Harley sat down creakily in his desk chair. "If there's one thing I know about Brick, it's that likes a challenge, and he only admits he's wrong when he absolutely has too."

* * *

"Hey Wade, I'd like to make an order." Zoe called from the end of the Rammer Jammer bar, he hands planted squarely on her hips.

Wade walked over looking with a questioning look on his face at her demeanor. "What can I get you Doc? The usual?"

"Um, no." Zoe plastered a fake may on her face. "I was thinking maybe some milk, some cream cheese, bagels, salsa, cheese…"

"That sounds more like your shopping list than an order, Doc." Wade refilled the Reverend's ice tea as he tried to sort through her line of thinking.

"Really? Because it sounds to me like the destroyed contents of my mini fridge, which is no longer running because someone over heated the generator…again…" She answered sarcastically, glaring at him a little. "When are you going to fix it? I might actually need to turn on a light again at some point."

"Don't get your panties in a twist girl." He tried in vain to charm her. "I'll get around to it eventually."

Zoe, absolutely annoyed with his lack of hop to at her demand tapped her foot expectantly. Wade, however, stood his ground with no intention of giving in to her mini tantrum shrugged his shoulders and went back about his business. The reverend looked at Zoe with a weak smile a before going back to his lunch as if she should have expected Wade's ambivalence before trying to push him into action.

Huffing a little at not having gotten way Zoe looked around the restaurant for a second, lost as to what to do now, but gave up and sank the chair at a table for four. Pulling a magazine out of her purse she opened it and started reading from page one, if she couldn't spur him to help her now maybe her constant presence would be enough to remind him that her home was currently without air conditioning. So she sat there quietly for hours, reading the latest copy of the New Yorker, which not so surprisingly she had gotten from Dash DeWitt when he was done with it.

The magazine was actually pretty interesting, so interesting in fact that she completely missed the man who had sat down across from her until she looked up to see his smiling face across from her. Zoe jumped, startled by his stealth. "Geeze George, are you trying to kill me?"

"I hate to tell you this but someone has added your name to the list for the annual Gumbo Cook-off. I think it was a joke."

Zoe nodded, widening her eyes a little. "I know, I did."

"You do know this is a Gumbo cook-off, not a tastin' contest, right?" He looked hopeful that she was actually stupid enough to make that mistake.

"I do." Zoe smiled. "Harley told me to take on something challenging, this will be a challenge. This is how I am going to prove to Brick I can handle the heat."

"No, this is going to show Brick that you don't know when you're in over your head." George warned her wearily. "Brick won the last three years in a row. He has the best Gumbo recipe in three counties."

Zoe sighed and threw up her hands in frustration. "Well I have to do something; otherwise I have to resign myself to dispensing antihistamines for the next year… which isn't exactly going to win over the fellowship board. I'm staying in the contest."

"Can you even cook?"

"I love to cook; I cook like crazy, cook all the time. Watch the cooking shows on the cooking show channel."

George raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "I don't think I get that channel. Well listen, if you are going to attempt to do this, you have to do it right… Brick's Gumbo is amazin'. It's perfect. You know how Lemon is a perfectionist of freakish proportions?" Zoe scoffed in surprise and raised a warning eyebrow at his comment. "Which is just one of the many reasons I love her… the point is she doesn't come by it funny. If I know Brick then that Gumbo is being prepared as we speak and will be babied for the next twenty four hours."

"Okay? So what do I do?"

"You need help." George nodded with all the authority the local lawyer should have. "Wade's uncle Moe has a ringer Gumbo recipe. I bet if you asked Wade'd help you put it together."

Zoe glanced at the blond the bar and back at George before shaking her head. "See there's a problem with that idea. As much as it may help my plan to win over Brick it messes up another plan I'm kinda right in the middle of."

George glanced over at his old friend too, who was now wiping out glasses, not paying attention to anything else in the world. "Which is?"

"The plan to be mean to Wade until he gives me my electricity back." She answered simply.

George laughed and nodded. "Okay then… how's that one going for you?"

"Not so great."

He chuckled and shook his head. "What is the deal with you two anyway? I thought you were friends."

"We are, sometimes. Sometimes he reminds me what a backwoods southern pain in the ass he can be…"

George's forehead wrinkled and he stared at her like she'd lost her mind. Zoe got the feeling that he was reading her like a book so she shrugged and reached for her magazine again. "You know, he has no idea how to talk to you, right? You come to town and you are nothin' like any of the girls around here. An educated city girl who looks that the world completely differently than anyone else down here… I think you intimidate him a little bit."

"Alright, first of all does that look like a guy who's intimidated?" Now it was Zoe's turn to look at the young lawyer like we was nuts. She pointed over at Wade who was now playing air guitar behind the bar to Tom Petty. George followed her finger and rolled his eyes. "And second… well I really don't have anything else because that speaks for itself… Where's Lemon today?"

"I haven't seen her, but I do know she was going to stop in and see her daddy this afternoon. She mentioned something about catching you all up on billing?" George shrugged.

"Oh, Brick didn't tell her he hired a new receptionist?" Zoe asked. "Didi. She started yesterday and I'm pretty sure she's already got eyes for Lavon."

"Look at you playin' gossip."

Zoe laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well that's all I got. I haven't exactly been included on the town criers must tell list yet."

George smiled warmly at her again and stood up to leave. "Well I have a deposition to get to, but it was nice talkin' to you Zoe. And don't forget what I said about getting help with that Gumbo."

Zoe waved as George walked away and sighed. Maybe he was right, she did need help. She again glanced back at Wade who was now flirting a little too much with a long haired blond. Would she ask for his help… uh, no.

* * *

"Lavon Hayes, as Mayor of Bluebell, is the official MC of tomorrow's cook-off tomorrow," Lavon told her later on as she sat at his kitchen counter asking for help "and therefore, Lavon Hayes is not permitted to take part in any of the Gumbo making process… I can however allow you to use my kitchen."

Zoe raised an eyebrow and suddenly felt helpless again. "Oh boy… this isn't going to work out very well, is it? Oh hey, I forgot to tell you! Our new receptionist Didi asked about you."

"She did?"

"Uh huh, she thinks you're cute, ask her out." Zoe pushed.

Lavon lit up like a teenage boy thinking about his first crush, then suddenly his face fell out of nowhere and he shook his head saying he was trying to get over someone else. Zoe knit her brow in confusion, but said nothing as he pulled the red stock pot out from under the cabinet and set it down on the table in front of her. Zoe just looked at it intimidated and made to move to get started. "This isn't a magic pot. It doesn't come with the gumbo already in it ya know. The cook off is tomorrow. I hope you know gumbo takes a while to prepare."

"I figured. I'm just taking a moment to consider the proper avenue for which to find a recipe. Something easy… but not so easy that it tastes like it was easy…" She tried her best to explain.

"Well if I were you I would be trying to find the best avenue to buy shrimp before it's sold out all over town." Lavon told her looking genuinely concerned for his friend. "You know if you need help then you should ask…"

"If you say Wade I swear to God…" Zoe stopped him. "I refuse to talk to him right now."

"Well Zoe Hart, desperate times call for desperate measures. Wade will help if you ask."

Zoe sighed, laying her head on the counter in despair. "Fine, I'll ask him. But only if you tell him he has to fix the fuse box… please? Just tell him it's a fire hazard or something."

"What's a fire hazard?" Wade asked coming into the kitchen.

"Zoe, attempting to cook gumbo all by herself. " Lavon smiled at his friend. "The girl needs help, and since I am disqualified from assisting her I was just volunteering your services."

Wade looked surprised at the recommendation, but shrugged his shoulders in agreement. "Sure Doc, I'll help. My Uncle Moe's got a kick ass Gumbo recipe."

"That's what I hear." Zoe smiled back weakly, embarrassed that he knew they had been talking about him, and completely unsure of how one started gumbo. "So what do we do?"

"Well the key to a good gumbo is its base… fresh ingredients…" Wade told her, waving good bye to Lavon who was slipping out of the kitchen to avoid infringing on his MC duties. "Basically Tomatoes, peppers, onions, okra…"

Zoe stopped him with a raise of her hand. "Okra… what is okra?"

"Only the secret to Uncle Moe's gumbo… we should get to the market before they close… you have shrimp already, right?" Wade looked expectantly. She shook her head no and he looked up at the ceiling like she was a lost cause. "Well it's too late for the markets then… let's go…"

"Go where? You just said it was too late for the market." She asked, following him out the door just the same.

"Come on, I've got a place. We'll hit the vegetable stand on the way."

* * *

"Okay, I will… No, just give Didi my number and I'll hurry back if anything happens… are you sure you don't need me to go with you?... It sounds like you need to do an arterial cut down… Well call Brick and have him go with you at least, please… alright, call me when you get back...bye…" Zoe hung up her phone and put it back in her purse, looking back at Wade apologetically. "Sorry, Harley and Brick have to leave the office because of an emergency; some farmer got himself trapped under a piece of equipment, so now I'm on call if anything happens…"

Wade nodded, but kept looking at the road. "You sure you don't need to go and help them Doc?"

"I'm sure. Harley says he's done this before. He would have told me if I was needed…" She settled back into the somewhat awkward silence they had fallen into since leaving the vegetable stand on the side of the road, which Wade said had tomatoes just as good as anywhere else. She'd been skeptical and made a snarky comment about unknown pesticides, so Wade had taken a big bite out of one of the vegetables in question completely unwashed. When he didn't drop dead instantly he told her that meant that the food was fine. Zoe hadn't bothered to explain how slowly it takes carcinogens to affect one's system, but she figured that a few lousy vegetables in one gumbo wouldn't kill anyone.

"You two seem to have fallen into a bit of a rhythm now." Wade observed of her and Harley repose. "Is it getting any less weird?"

"Working with him or knowing he's my father?"

"Either I guess."

Zoe shrugged. "I don't know. I guess working is easier now that I know what he expects of me, most of the time. The other stuff is… it's okay… we're going slow, getting to know each other. I don't think I'll be calling him dad any time soon, but we're getting comfortable."

He nodded a little. "Comfortable is good."

"Yea, I think so." Zoe nodded too. "So where are we going anyway?"

"I've got a buddy who works on a shrimpin' boat that docks about a mile from here. He'll get us all the fresh caught shrimp we need."

"Please tell me his name is Forest Gump." She joked, relieved that for once Wade seemed to have a genuine plan.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Just let me do the talkin', okay?"

Zoe put up her hands indicating the situation was all his. The last thing she needed to do was make a fool of herself around a bunch of fishermen.

Pulling into the gravel lot by the pier Wade killed the engine and told Zoe to stay put while he ran down to talk to his buddy. Getting out of the car and walking around the parking area Zoe took a moment to take in the coastal glory of Mobile Bay, a sight she hadn't really seen since arriving in Bluebell. It was pretty, she admitted to herself, walking a little further from the car down towards the water. Not usually the outdoorsy type Zoe was surprised with herself to be okay with walking through the tall grasses and slightly muddy area to get a better look at the view. Heck, this wasn't so bad, maybe she could even take up hiking as part of her cardio routine.

"Doc?!" Wade's voice suddenly carried back from the car. "Hey Doc, we're did you run off too?"

"Over here!" She called back, waving her arms to alert him to her location. "Just exploring a little."

He shook his head at her and smiled. "Well get your but back here! I got the shrimp."

Zoe cast one last look back at the water before starting her jaunt back up the car, all the while Wade watched her with amusement as she plowed through the tall grass. "Youmaywannawashereyouwalkdoc ."

"What?" Zoe called back, failing to understand the comment Wade had just thrown her way. She started running a little to get closer to his words. "I can't hear you."

"I said you might want to watch where you …"

"Aww!" Zoe yelled, falling fifty yards in front of him.

"Aw Hell." He muttered to himself and running over to her. "Watch where you walk. That's all I was trying to tell you to do… What happened Doc?"

"I tripped." Zoe looked up at him pathetically from the ground as he came to stand over her, practically crying, she pointed to her hand where there were clearly two red punctures. "A snake bit me…"

Wade scanned the area around them for the reptile before reaching down quickly and picking her up to carry back to the car. "Did you see what it looked like?"

"Pink-tan, with dark brown diamonds." She told him, wrapping her arms around his neck for support.

"Copperhead." He sighed without having to think about it.

"Are they poisonous?" She asked with alarm in her voice.

Wade didn't answer which she took to mean yes and she groaned a little in fear. "They're not that bad. We'll get you back to your office and fixed up in no time. I haven't heard of anyone dying of a Copperhead bite in a long time. They happen all the time."

"That's comforting…" Zoe sniffed as he set her back into the passenger seat of the car. She tried not to take note of how quickly he ran around the car and headed back into town like a bat out of hell. It was only a few minutes before they pulled up in front of the practice, and had she been concerned about anything but her hand, Zoe would have noticed how much longer it had taken them to get to the docks than get back from them. She also might have noticed the worried look in Wade's eyes when he calmly picked her up out of the car again and carried her into the reception area.

"Don't forget the shrimp!" Zoe suddenly noticed, as he set her down. "We need to get it in the fridge."

"Seriously Doc? That's what you're worried about now?" Wade asked rolling his eyes.

Zoe nodded. "We're here now, and I still need to win that stupid cook-off. Please go get it out of the car."

Wade rolled his eyes again but complied, heading out the door as Didi rushed over to Zoe. "Oh no, hun! What happened?"

"I found a snake and vice versa." Zoe told the young woman holding up her hand.

"Oh dear… we should get you a doctor."

"I am a doctor..." Zoe reminded her with slight annoyance.

Didi looked like she had honestly forgotten, but nodded kindly trying to be compliant. "Well the other doctor then… Brick! Come out here, Zoe's gotten herself hurt!"

Brick stuck his head out of his office with interest. "Doctor Hart… what happened."

"She was bit by a copperhead." Wade told him, walking back in from the car carrying the bag of shrimp. "Where should I put this Doc?"

Zoe told Didi to show Wade where the refrigerator was before turning to Brick with a weak smile. "Can help me out here?"

Brick scoffed, but ushered her into his office just the same. "I told your father you were too reckless."

"I wasn't out there calling 'Here Snaky Snaky." It was an accident. How was I supposed to know there were snakes in that grass?" Zoe asked.

"Well lucky for you I've seen about a thousand copperhead bites in my career. What kind of dunder head doesn't know there's wildlife in nature?"

"Yea well, unfortunately by the time my people had settled on to the island of Manhattan the copperhead population had dwindled a bit." Zoe winced as he gave her a shot a little more roughly than necessary. "Where's Harley?"

Brick gave her a look of impatient again and sighed. "Your father went with Oscar to the hospital and then he was planning on going back to the farm to see Oscar's wife, calm her fears a bit. A good man, your father."

Zoe nodded absently and glanced out through the open door where Wade was sitting in the waiting room trying to ignore Didi's questions about Lavon. It took Brick another ten minutes to extract all the poison from Zoe's hand and wrap it so it was completely immobilized. Zoe looked down at the bandage with a critical eye and determined that he probably could have loosened it a little, but this might be his attempted at hindering her cooking skills. Nevertheless, she said nothing but thank you as she hopped down from the table and went to gather Wade. She did, however, catch the look of annoyance that Brick sent Didi's way as the two younger people exited the building.

* * *

"Okay, so what do we do next?" Zoe asked, looking at the pot, now filled with chicken, sausage, and various vegetables. It smelled good, she'd give it that, but she wasn't exactly an expert in knowing how gumbo was supposed to taste. "Do we add anything else? Pepper, salt?"

"Step away from the pot." Wade commanded, pointing away from his creation. "Now we let it simmer and don't fuss over it."

"It's done?" She asked glancing over at the shrimp she had forced him to devein. "What about those?"

"Unless you want rubber shrimp floaten' around in there, we're going to wait to put those in until tomorrow morning." He told her putting the lid on the pot and reducing the heat as low as it would go. "It's late, you should go to bed. We wouldn't want the winner of the Gumbo Cook-off to look tired tomorrow. I'll stay up a little longer and get everything cleaned up."

Zoe smiled at him and nodded. "Thank you for all your help today. I really appreciate it Wade."

"Yea." He raised an eyebrow stepping towards her. "How much."

A breath caught in Zoe's throat at his flirtation, but she stopped herself and shook her head to erase the thoughts he was creating. "So much that I might let you take credit as my souse chef tomorrow."

"How charitable of you… considering that I did most of the cooking."

Zoe held up her bandaged hand at him. "I'm injured."

"You're milkin' it…" He laughed shaking his head.

Zoe scowled at him and hopped off the stool. "It's been a very traumatic day for me. Now you volunteered to watch the gumbo so I'm just gonna go."

"See ya in the mornin' Doc." Wade watched her walk out the backdoor and lifted the lid on the pot again to examine his creation. It did look good, and for once he had actually enjoyed cooking. Zoe hadn't had any idea what she was doing, which he had figured going in, but that didn't change the fact that she had tried her best to involve herself in every step of the process. He set the lid back down on the pot and reach to take a swig of his beer. He couldn't deny that the girl was just a rollercoaster of emotions.

"This is the second time you've nearly stayed up all night doing Zoe a solid." Lavon noted sneaking into the room as Wade stared at the pot with a little pride.

Wade looked up at his friend and shrugged his shoulder. "It wasn't nothin'."

Lavon didn't buy it. "Fine, but I know what I know."

* * *

"Zoe! Zoe wait!" A voice called out to the doctor as she walked across parking lot of the Rammer Jammer the next morning. She turned around to find the ditsy receptionist attempting to run in heels over to her. "Oh thank goodness I caught you. I was just afraid I wouldn't see you before I left."

"Left? Where are you going?" Zoe asked, opening the door for both of them to enter the filling restaurant. She looked around for Wade whose eye she caught with a questioning glance, and he nodded towards the table where all the gumbo's were waiting to be judged. She breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw their pot and turned back to Didi again. "What's going on?"

"Oh well I'm not going to be staying here in Bluebell very much longer. Lemon got me a job in a Law firm up in Montgomery, so I'm going to be moving." She bobbed her head as she spoke, with far more energy than Zoe could imagine exuding.

"Lemon got you the job? Wow?"

"Yea she called in a favor… you know how us southern women have to stick together…" Didi smiled before thinking about what she said. "Or maybe you don't… Anyway it just pays a lot more than your daddy is paying and I have student loans."

Zoe could understand that, after all she had every belief that she would be paying off medical school for the rest of her life. "Well I hope everything works for you then, Didi."

"Hey, would you do me a favor and tell the mayor thank you for sending me those flowers?" The young woman asked smiling blankly. Zoe shrugged sure and Didi looked relieved. "Well bye!"

Zoe laughed to herself as the girl walked away and made her way over to the bar where Wade was working like mad to provide drinks to the other patrons. As it turned out Tom Long's Gumbo had ended up just a tad spicier than your average fire eater could handle. "What can I get you Doc?"

"Just some water please." She asked. "Thanks for bringing the gumbo with you this morning."

"Yea well, I figured with your hand…"

"Right. Thanks." She took the water and turned back to the crowd, scanning the room for an open seat. She found one at a table in the back, where the other chair was occupied by none other than Harley Wilkes. Zoe strolled over to him; honestly happier to see him than she had ever been which was a growing trend for her. "So have you tried Wade and my's gumbo yet?"

"I just did, and may I just say it was some of the best I've ever tasted." Harley nodded with all his southern charm. He motioned for his daughter to join him and Zoe pulled up the seat happily. "An interesting choice of contests my dear. I wasn't aware you were such a culinary genius."

"Yea well, I'm surprising if nothing else."

"Brick told me about your little accident yesterday. How's your hand?" Harley leaned over the table to look at it with concern. "

"It's throbbing, but otherwise okay. Once again, Wade saved the day."

Harley nodded to himself thoughtfully. "Yes, he certainly did, didn't he? One of these days I may have to have a sit down with that young man and thank him for how well he has welcomed my daughter to town."

"I might hold off on that if I were you." Zoe laughed. "Give it another five minutes and I may be plotting his destruction again."

"Aww, no she won't! Zoe Hart is charitable and forgiving!" Lavon approached them, pulling a chair away from a neighboring table and sitting in it backwards. "Besides she wouldn't want to put her dear friend Lavon Hayes in the awkward position of having to play referee between tenants."

Zoe smirked and looked back towards her father. "There isn't some old wives remedy for people who talk in the third person is there?"

"Not that I've ever found." Harley laughed.

"Lavon Haye's does not appreciate being mocked. I may have to go show my support elsewhere." He pretended to make a move to stand back up but Zoe reached out her hand to stop him and he sat back down begrudgingly.

"Your support is very much need." Zoe insisted. The lines for the gumbo had started to dwindle and she looked around the room trying to hear which direction the votes were heading in. "By the way, Didi wanted me to tell you thank you for the flowers. I know I said you should ask her out and everything but I guess she's moving?"

Lavon looked at her startled by the comment before looking to her father for confirmation. Harley just nodded and Lavon turned back to Zoe for explanation. "Moving? She just got here."

Zoe shrugged her shoulders. "All she told me was that Lemon somehow got her a job at a law firm in Montgomery."

"Lemon?"

"Yea." Zoe nodded, wondering why Lavon's face got so stony at the idea. "I guess their friends or something…"

"Dr. Wilkes, Dr. Hart, will you excuse me please?" He asked tipping his hat to them both as he got up and quickly rushed away.

Zoe turned back to Harley. "Was it something I said?"

"Attention everyone! Attention!" Dash Dewitt called causing the crowed to gather around the platform stage. "It's time to announce the winner of the 12th Annual Bluebell Cook-off…"

Zoe left Harley at the table and walked over to the bar to watch with Wade, who had walked around to sit on one of the stools. "You ready for this?"

He just winked at her and she smiled turning back to Dash, who was dressed in his Sunday best.

"And the winner this year's gumbo cook-off is, and still champion, our local hero, Dr. Brick Breeland."

Zoe's face fell for a second but she clapped along with the crowd as Brick made his way up to the stage to except the trophy and give a speech involving a really stupid dumbo- gumbo joke. Looking around at the town's people looking at Brick with complete admiration she realized that under no circumstances was he not going to win; not just because his gumbo was one of the best, but also because the town viewed _him_ as one of the best. Wade swung an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side quickly, letting go before things got awkward. She smiled and looked up at him with a nod of gratitude for all his work. Brick was still yammering on as Dash approached them holding out a medal to her.

"Congratulations, you won second prize!" He whispered before scurrying off.

Zoe looked down at the medal in her hand and laughed a little. "Well this is exciting."

"I know your disappointed, Doc." Wade whispered.

Zoe looked at the medal again and shook her head. "Not really. This was fun. And next year you'll win."

"Next year?" Wade laughed as she put the talisman around his neck. "What makes you think I'm ever going to enter this thing again, the only reason I had anything to do with it is because you burn water."

Zoe shrugged and straightened the medal so it hung properly under his open shirt. "Because, clearly that gumbo is a winner, and winners are happy with second place but strive for first."

"Yea, okay Doc." Wade rolled his eyes as he walked away from her and back behind the bar, but he didn't take the medal off his neck either.

Zoe settled into her place at the bar for a little while chatting with Shelly as she cleared away the empty bowls that seemed to be swallowing the place whole. Okay, so maybe things hadn't gone exactly as planned, but she would come up with a better way to win Brick over, and it sure as hell wasn't going to involve cooking.

"So I hear you got Wade to help you with your gumbo…" The man of the hour commented, coming up to stand next to her. Zoe suspected some heavy gloating was about to occur.

She shrugged and pretended the ostentatious trophy he had set down next to her on the bar wasn't bugging her. "The rules never said I had to do it all on my own."

Brick took the lemonade Wade handed him and sipped it before nodding at her. "Actually I'm impressed."

"You are?"

"It takes a strong person to ask for help when it's needed." He didn't look at her as he spoke, just out at the crowd of his admirers. "I must say that isn't a trait I've seen you show much of since you've been in town. I can admit to being a prideful southern man, Dr. Hart; a vice we just might share, but the one thing I know is that what this town needs in its doctors the ability to look past that pride when it matters the most."

Zoe didn't know what to say, and Brick didn't bother to give her the time to respond before heading off to hug a beaming Lemon. Finally blinking Zoe nodded to herself and walked back over to Harley who was still sitting at his booth eating a second serving of gumbo.

* * *

The next day Zoe strolled back into the practice after lunch, resigned to spend another afternoon making follow-up calls to Harley's patients who had recently been prescribed new medication, to find the reception area nearly full of patients. Didi, who had miraculously decided to stay in town and work at the practice a few more days before starting her new job as George Tucker's assistant, flitted around the office dispensing paperwork.

"Dr. Breeland will be right with you as soon as possible." She told the newest addition just as Brick entered the room looking a little haggard at his work load.

He raised an eyebrow a Zoe's return before turning back to the woman. "Mrs. Dixon, it's going to be a while… why don't you see Dr. Hart today?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow and Brick nodded at her before leading his next patient into the exam room. Smiling Zoe motioned for Mrs. Dixon to follow her as well.

As his daughter closed the door to her own exam room Harley peaked out the door from his office eyes gleaming with pride and nodded to himself; his daughter would make a place for herself here yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**What a Difference A Father Makes: In Havoc & in Heat**

**Disclaimer: First of all thank you all for your feedback. I really appreciate all the positive reviews. Once again I must give ample thanks to Leila Gerstein and all the other creators of Hart of Dixie for use of their dialog and their amazing characters. This chapter turned out a little longer than I planned, but I'm really happy with how it advances the story. Please don't be surprised within the next few chapters I start either combining episodes or even skipping some altogether due to continuity issues. Please continue to review, I love all the feedback. **

This was it. The world was over. It was slowly being sucked in by the gravitational pull of the sun and they were all going to melt to death. Zoe was sure of it. She had officially found hell and it was right there in Southern Alabama. Her hair was frizzing, every piece of clothing she owned was covered in sweat, and no amount of fans was making the humidity any better. Yes, she was defiantly in hell.

Sighing Zoe turned on her shower and stepped in for the third time that morning. The cool water that she usually avoided was the only thing that helped the stickiness she felt building on her skin again. Rinsing off quickly she stepped out of the water, dried off as best she could in the humidity, and put on a jersey dress. After pulling her hair into a tight bun she stepped out in the heat of the outside world and headed over to Lavon's.

Walking into the kitchen Zoe breathed in a sigh of relief as the full force of the air conditioning hit her again. Lavon was standing over the stove when she turned around, shirtless, and frying eggs.

"I have a question, why are you half naked?" She joked. "More importantly, why is the earth on fire?"

"Oh, Lavon Hayes would like to welcome you to your very first Bluebell heat wave! Where Hot'n Bothered takes on a whole new meaning. People tend to go a little crazy around here this time a year. Get ready to see half naked people do full crazy things." He told her handing her a plate. "You better watch yourself girl, because the fever reaches everyone eventually. Pretty soon you're freaky deaky will be on full display."

"I doubt it." Zoe scoffed fanning herself a little. "I hate to disappoint you Lavon, but I don't have freaky deaky in me. I'm not a freaky deaky kind of person. I don't do crazy."

"Why not?" Wade asked coming in from the heat himself. He too wore no shirt and looked like he had just gotten back from the beach.

"Since when did breakfast become clothing optional?" Zoe asked, half wishing she had gotten the memo. At this rate she may have to shower and change again before going to the office.

"Since there's a heat wave Baby!" Wade laughed and Lavon nodded at her.

Lavon looked at her skepticism and tried to explain. "Trust me, Bluebell gets a lot more fun when its 105° out… And since Didi and I are going out on our first date tomorrow night…"

"Awww Yea…." Both men said simultaneously, causing Zoe to wonder how she ended up in this little buddy comedy.

"This is disturbing." Zoe announced shaking her head at the two. "And I don't know how anyone could be happy with this weather… its gross… my contacts have literally melted onto my eyeballs."

"Heat wave is like a free pass to do whatever you want. What's not to like?" Wade asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Zoe stared at him for a second and looked at Lavon confused before turning back to Wade. "Don't you do that anyway?"

Wade blinked at her for a beat and shrugged. "Just wait until you see what some of these people come up with Doc; then you come and tell me that heat waves are no fun."

"I know all about free passes." Zoe tried to stand her ground. "See it's like my mom and champagne. When she drinks she thinks that nothing counts. My mom used to throw these huge parties for her celebrity clients at her house, okay? So the Champagne would flow and then the next day someone would have been arrested, someone would have lost their pants and my mom would have been found passed out behind the couch with one of her friend's husbands and a Calvin Klein model."

"Exactly!" Wade told her, missing what was so bad here. "Your mom knew how to enjoy a free pass."

"Yea, both my parents do. So much that they went on a Greek cruise, hooked up randomly, and now I live in Alabama." Zoe deadpanned. "I don't do crazy. I have seen crazy and crazy comes with consequences. There's no such thing as a free pass."

Lavon nodded at her with a knowing look. "You'll see, weather this hot, you cannot fight your inhibitions, girl."

Wade agreed. "You know you could look at this like an opportunity. What's the one thing you've wanted to do since you got here that you haven't done? You can just go right ahead and do it. No judgments, no inhibitions, just do it."

"Last time I did something down here without thinking about it I got bit by a snake. " Zoe held up her hand so he could see the two scabbed over marks again. "I think it's safer if I just keep myself hydrated and air conditioned."

"Hydrated huh?" Wade asked with interest, leaning towards her with a smirk.

"Lots of water helps the body regulate its temperature." Zoe explained rolling her eyes.

"Okay…let me help you with that." He nodded straight faced before reaching for the pitcher of water next to her and dumping it over her head in one swift motion. Lavon and Wade laughed as Zoe sputtered a little and stared shocked at her friend. "Cooler?"

She looked down at her soaked dress and shook it, letting more water fall onto the floor. She had to admit, the coolness had felt good, like being thrown in a pool. Finally she let a slight smile appear on her face and looked up at Wade with an expression that told him as much as she wanted to be mad she couldn't. "You're going to pay for that."

"Counting on it Doc." Wade smiled again as she got up and left the kitchen back towards the carriage house to change for work. He watched her leave before turning back to Lavon with a glint in his eye.

"Keep smiling. You still have to clean that up."

* * *

Walking through town Zoe saw examples the free pass every which way and started to wonder if maybe this whole heat wave thing was a little more serious than she had imaged. Shula was walking her Cat on a leash, and the poor thing had water wings on its legs; Tom was sitting on top of the gazebo wearing a red lifeguard swim suit, and someone had thought it was a good idea to give Old man Jackson a motorized wheelchair to chase people around with. Stepping through the door of the office wasn't much better. The consequences she had been referring too? Well it looked like she would be left with the cleanup.

Addie, the new receptionist looked at her with relief. "Thank God you're here. You will not believe some of the crazy that has come through this door this morning!"

"I think I would." She looked around. "Who's first?"

Addie directed her to her first patient so they could get started clearing out the waiting room. After every patient she walked back out thinking there was no way their line of thinking could get any worse and then it did. By noon she was in desperate need of a break and let Harley and Brick know she would be back from the Rammer Jammer in a while. Passing into the restaurant she raised an eyebrow at Shelley, who was clearly having far too much fun at the bar with her patrons and decided to try and find somewhere quiet to sit, out of the way. That's when she noticed Lemon sitting all by herself at a table looking far less crazy then the rest of town.

"Hey Lemon." Zoe greeted with a smile. "I haven't seen you around lately."

"Oh Yes…" Lemon moved her discarded menu out of the way and beaconed Zoe to sit down with her. "Well George's parents are coming into town this weekend and I've just been cleaning up a storm."

Zoe nodded, pretending to understand the anxiety of having ones future in-laws visit. But who was she kidding, she had no idea. "The Tucker's huh? I'm a little surprised they don't live in town."

"Yes well, after the boys all graduated Mr. Tucker decided small town life just wasn't him… He has his own firm in Montgomery."

Zoe raised an eyebrow. Lemon Breeland, princess of Bluebell, was marrying a man whose family had all but run from the small town. "And their coming to visit? So why are you so stressed?"

"His parents only come into town and that doesn't give me nearly enough time with them." She tried in vain to explain. "His momma doesn't like me. She finds me silly and high strung."

"I wonder where she got that idea." Wade muttered as he walked past them to deliver an order. He winked at Zoe a little as he passed and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Wade Kinsella, you had better be nice to me or I will not allow you to be in my wedding." Lemon threatened pointing at him.

"You mean I won't have to stand around wearing a monkey suit. How will I survive?"

"Ignore him." Zoe ordered Lemon. "So you're trying to get Mrs. Tucker to like you?"

Lemon nodded grimly. "She doesn't take me seriously, and we're getting married, and this dinner it's a symbol of our future and pretty soon we'll be havin' Thanksgivin' and Christmas and I need to show her my agreeable nature."

"Wow." Zoe blinked now that the rant was over.

"Yes. And I'm making this duck for dinner tomorrow and it takes 24 hours to marinate and I haven't even deseeded the chilis yet and I don't know how I can get it all done." Lemon looked defeated.

Zoe raised an eyebrow and looked around like she had missed something. "And you're hanging out around here, why?"

"George kicked me out of the house. He said I'm bein' silly and then I went to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the ingredients but Frank closed the Dixie Stop so he could drive to Mobile and buy a motorcycle so now I'm here…"

"A motorcycle?" Zoe sighed. "Great… don't forget to call when he has an accident and breaks his head. That will just be a wonderful capper to my already insane day."

"Aw Darlin', I'm sorry I didn't notice how down right haggard you look, I take it the office has been busy today?"

"I removed a super glued inner tube from around a four year old's waist this morning." Zoe grumbled before picking up the menu that Lemon had finished with. "But I really can't complain, Brick and Harley have been swamped too."

Lemon understood. She may have enjoyed her share of Bluebell heat waves in the past but she always noticed how much they wore on her father. The people of the town started acting crazy and that always led to more injuries. "Well I'm sure you'll just barrel on through. It seems like your good at that."

Zoe wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a dig, but she took it anyway. "So dinner with the family tomorrow night? If you want I can fill in for Brick so he can get home earlier."

"Would you?! Oh you are just the sweetest thing!"

"Now if you don't mind, I think we should order some lunch, because I am starving and I really need to get back to help out." Zoe announced, noticing that Lemon hadn't eaten yet. The other young woman nodded smiling and the two settled into a friendly luncheon.

Returning from Lunch, Zoe found none other than George Tucker sitting in the waiting room with two blond women he introduced as the Parker sisters, Fiona and Polly. Apparently there had been some sort of argument in his office regarding a will and a vase… things had gotten pretty ugly and now Fiona was bleeding. George, however, was not just concerned about the injured party, but Polly as well who was acting rather strangely. Brick agreed and ushered Polly into his office to calm her down while George accompanied Fiona and Zoe to an exam room to clean her wound.

"I'm telling you, she's getting worse and worse." Fiona told Zoe and George while Zoe worked. "Lord knows Polly has always been difficult, but ever since momma died she gone down right insane."

"We were going over their mother's will for the third time this month. Things got a little heated and before I knew it my desk clock was in the air." George explained, surprisingly calm about the fight he had just witnessed.

Zoe turned back to Fiona with curiosity. "How long ago did your mom pass away?"

"About eight months ago. But we knew it was coming, she'd been fighting a losing battle with cancer for three years or so. Actually your Daddy is why she held on as long as she did." The woman started to get teary eyed.

George reached out to pat her on the back like an old friend. "Hey, things are going to get easier alright? We'll get through this together."

Zoe watched the interaction with interest, impressed at how the lawyer seemed to care so much about his clients. All she knew of New York lawyers was that they seemed to like to take the cases that would make them the most money, regardless of the clientele, but apparently things were different in the small town world.

"Thank you Mr. Tucker." Fiona smiled; expressing the same sentiment Zoe was feeling. "Have you ever met a nicer lawyer in your life? And so handsome, broke the mold with this one."

George put his hands in his pockets and looked away embarrassed. Zoe nodded along with Fiona though and smiled at her friend. "Well Fiona, you are all fixed."

The sister smiled and said thank you before excusing herself and George was just about to follow suit when Zoe stopped him for a second. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know… I saw Lemon at the Rammer Jammer earlier. You may want to talk with her. She seems a little freaked about your parents coming…"

"She told you about that?" Zoe nodded and he looked at her with interest. "I just never would have guessed she would… but yea, I'll do what I can to put her mind at ease."

Zoe waved as he walked out and started to clean up the mess of gauze she had used for Fiona's arm. As she did, Harley strolled in past George. "I never would have taken you for a marriage counselor?"

"What?" Zoe looked up. "Oh, no, I just figured I would help Lemon out a bit. She's never been anything but nice to me…By the way, can I just say I retract everything I said about being an only child. Did you see those sisters? So hostile…"

Harley laughed and sat down in one of the chairs in the room. "Their good girls. They've just experienced one of the most traumatic things a child can, watching a parent slowly slip away like that."

"Still. I'm not sure about Polly. Eight months is a long time to be acting like that. We may want to check for clinical depression."

"Brick will watch her Zoe. She's his patient." Harley warned a little. The civility between his daughter and the other doctor was new and he was prepared to preserve it any way he could.

"Okay."

* * *

Standing beside the lake the next morning before heading to work Zoe considered how nice and cool that water looked. Really nice, so nice, in fact that it made her want to do something really dumb. It made her want to do something no rational person should ever want to do, and certainly not in broad daylight. But the thought of that cool water surrounding her completely was such a nice thought. Maybe she could be bad just this once… oh hell, she was starting to sound like the rest of them. Doing bat shit crazy things just because it was hot outside. No. She was not going to fall for that, no way no how.

"Why don't you jump in?" Wade called from the lawn chair he was sitting in, in the water, looking a lot cooler than she felt.

"What? No."

"Why not, afraid you'll have too much fun." He was shirtless again and Zoe was having a hard time paying attention to anything else.

She shook her head and lifted her arm to show her watch, trying to indicate that she had to be on her way. "Besides, I just blew out my hair."

"Sure Doc." Wade laughed shaking his head. "Tell you what, when this heat finally gets to you give me a call and maybe we can come up with something mini crazy you to do."

"I told you, I'm avoiding the crazy completely." She tried to ignore how comfortable he looked sitting in the water with his beer and sunglasses. She envied him for being as free as he was. And the funny thing was that she knew his behavior had nothing to do with any sort of stupid free pass, this was just naturally who he was. "I have to head to work before Brick calls and freaks out because I'm not there."

"He's been treating you better though?" Wade asked, his concern hidden by his dark glasses.

Zoe nodded. "Well he's given me patients so that's good…"

"So our gumbo won him over, huh?"

Zoe hadn't mentioned Bricks comments on her and Wade's team work in regards to the Gumbo competition a week prior to anyone. It wasn't anybody's business what he had said, all that mattered was that things were looking up between the two doctors… plus if Wade knew his role he just might develop a big head. "In a manner of speaking. Thanks again for all your help."

"I've told you a million times it was no problem Doc."

"Yea, well I still appreciate it." Zoe argued back waving off his dismissal of her thanks. "Well, I should get going. I'll see you later okay."

"Bye Doc."

* * *

The day went much the same as the day before had. Every patient she came across seemed to have some something completely insane to get them in their current predicament… either that, or the visit to her office turned out to be the insane thing itself. She had just finished explaining to a pair of geriatrics it just wasn't necessary for them to plan for birth control anymore, specifically because the kindly lady asking was nearly seventy five. Ushering them out of her office, she shuddered a little as Addie encouraged them to take condoms from the jar she kept behind the desk.

"Addie, I'm starting to think I should petition the school board to let me look over the sex ed classes their teaching…" She rolled her eyes looking concerned. "Just wondering, is there usually a boom in the town's population nine months after these heat waves?"

Addie laughed. "How do you think I got son number two?"

Zoe nodded; a little sorry she had asked and tried to go back to her paperwork but the fan set up on the desk was blowing the paper around like crazy. Finally finished she handed the file back to Addie to put away and looked up to find George a little distraught.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Is Brick around? I need to talk to him about Polly." He asked, uncomfortable about being put into the situation of discussing his client's medical issues.

Zoe told Addie to get Brick and waited in the reception with George. Brick exited his office, complete with his briefcase to leave for the evening. "Heya George, you ready to head out for Lemon's big dinner."

"In a minute Brick." George stopped him. "I actually need to talk to you about Polly. Fiona called me this morning. Apparently they got into another fight last night and now Fiona wants to have Polly committed. She says Polly is, ah; unfit to take care of herself."

Zoe raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as Brick nodded to himself. "What do you think George?"

"Polly's outbrust yesterday was pretty scary." He told his future father-in-law.

"Fiona said that Polly has only gotten worse since her mother passed away." Zoe told him. "She could be slipping into a clinical depression."

Brick nodded again stood thinking for a moment. "We are in the middle of a heat wave. I really don't think Polly is any crazier than any of these folks. When the weather cools down so will she… if she doesn't then we can start discussing looking into other things. Now, George I believe we have someplace to be."

Zoe disagreed, but per Harley's instructions kept her mouth closed and said goodbye as they headed out to dinner. Brick was probably right. Polly had only come in the day before, and it would be difficult to prove depression after only one visit. Looking around the still full office she sighed before taking another patient back for an exam.

Slowly the numbers in the waiting area had dwindled, leaving Harley and Zoe alone with just Shelly there still seeking treatment for what she called a kick drum in the head. Zoe smiled and thought back to how much fun the waitress had been having with her clientele.

"Unfortunately there is not a prescription for a hangover." Zoe told her. "But my advice would be to stop taking tequila shots on the job… but that's more preventative medicine."

Shelly's shoulders slumped. "Fair enough, but just so you know, I never drink on the job and I hardly ever do shots, it's just the heat wave. I know its juvenile, but sometimes it just feels good to be bad."

The bell over the door rang as it opened and Zoe glanced up to find her friend and neighbor entering. "We're closed Wade."

She handed Shelly a bottle of acetaminophen with another little laugh. Wade, however, had ignored her claim about being closed and continued to walk towards her holding a handkerchief to his chest.

"Hey look, I'm sorry to barge in after hours, Doc, but I was takin' out the trash over at the Rammer Jammer and the fence kinda jumped out and got me." He pulled away the fabric to reveal what looked like a deep cut. "Ya think it needs stitches?"

"I'd have to clean it up to see…" Zoe started to stand to go help him.

"Wade, my boy, why don't you come into my office and I'll take care of that." Harley stopped her stepping into the room. "Zoe, please show the lovely Shelly out and you can go home for the evening."

Wade and Harley disappeared behind the old oak door leaving Zoe and Shelly alone again. "You should totally hit that."

Zoe's brow knit at the comment the young waitress had made. "Wade? No! I could never, he's just so…"

"Beautiful? Available? Gorgeous?"

"Not where I was going." Zoe bit back.

Shelly looked at her like she was saying no to ice cream. "It's obvious, he likes you."

"No he doesn't."

"I work with the man every day. I can tell these things." Shelly told her matter of factly. "The way he looks at you, you have definitely gotten under his skin. Maybe it's time you let him get under yours. Come on, the fever hits everyone eventually, might as well give in."

Zoe did her best not to roll her eyes as the two women stood up together to exit the building. Zoe giving a quick look back at the still lit office where her father was still treating her friend.

* * *

"So a fence did this son?" Harley asked looking at the cut with interest. Wade nodded, not wincing at all as Harley applied antiseptic. "Well the good news is that your tetanus shot is current. That nail you stepped on last winter took care of that."

"I just wasn't paying attention to the broken fence. I'll have to fix that tomorrow I guess…we've just been so busy this week. With crazy comes drinkin'." Wade explained. He and Dr. Wilkes had a long history behind them, particularly Wade's boyhood pension for getting himself into dangerous scrapes. "I tried to get Zoe interested in the heat wave, but I gotta say, your daughter is about as straight laced as they come."

Harley started stitching up the wound, but nodded at the comment. "So you and Zoe have been spending quite a bit of time together I hear… helpin' her with the float and the gumbo contest…"

"Just being a friendly neighbor, Sir." Wade responded suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Is that really all it is?" Harley looked up at him, studying the young man's face and clearly noticing an unintentional lie. "Because my deepest wish is for my daughter to build a life for herself in this town; for her to realize that Bluebell is a place that she can love and that can love her back."

Wade sucked in a breath and nodded at the sentiment. "I know that."

"It's important that you do son." Harley kept working methodically as they talked. "I've known you a long time Wade. I knew your momma… and I know the type of man you know how to me… but I've also seen you make other, less than wise choices over the years."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at Sir." Wade shuddered feeling very uncomfortable. All his life Dr. Wilkes had been a kind of sounding board for the young man, the person he retold his stories too as he sat on the exam table getting stitched up; and all his life, that man had laughed and joked right alongside him, but now it seemed some of his adventures may be coming back to haunt him.

"Don't get me wrong son, I'm glad you and Zoe are friends. I really am… your friendship is important." Harley didn't look at him as he spoke now, focusing on the wound. "But you have to understand that my daughter is in a very delicate place now. She's learning about the town and what it has to offer, but she doesn't know she belongs here yet. And something as difficult as say, a broken heart, may be enough to send her runnin' back to New York."

Wade's eyes bulged and he wondered how obvious it was to everyone else that he had a slight crush on the young doctor. He let the breath he had been holding go and looked back at the older man nodding a little.

"I know how you've been with women, son. You tend to love' em and leave' em and God knows I've done my fair share of that myself…" Harley knotted his final stich and reached for a bandage. "But my daughter is not one of those girls. She is smart and beautiful, and worth so much more than that and I just got her back. Zoe is the most important thing in my life right now, and as her father I have to do everything in my power to protect her."

"I got the message, Sir." Wade answered solemnly, feeling a little chastised by the man her respected so much. "You don't have to worry about anything happening with me and Zoe, I promise."

Harley smiled weakly and turned back to the young man realizing that maybe he had made his point a little too clear. "Now, I'm not saying never, Wade. Just if or when you feel that she wouldn' be a passing ship."

Wade didn't know what to say as the older man applied a bandage and sent him on his way. Clearly the Old Doctor knew him well enough to surmise that he was incapable of staying with a girl longer than five minutes, and while he had experienced many a warning father in his day, not once had he ever taken their words to heart until now. As he drove back to the bar he thought about how much he had enjoyed having Zoe living next door and being there for breakfast every morning. After nearly a month in town it already felt like she had been there forever and the thought of her leaving was unimaginable. But Wade also knew, from her constant ramblings, that the fellowship in New York was her goal. Something she truly thought she wanted. Did she know just how much she was loved by the father she barely knew? Did she know how desperately he was working to make her life in their small town so perfect?

Wade parked in front of the Rammer Jammer and considered Harley's advice. He wasn't wholly convinced of his importance in Zoe's decision whether or not she would stay, but keeping her in town was now one of his priorities. So he resolved himself right then to not let their playful flirting get too far. He didn't do commitment well, and hurting Zoe with his own inadequacies was not an option. No, friendship was the best thing. No sexual tension, or suggestive comments, just down right neighborly friendship.

* * *

After leaving work Zoe didn't feel much like going home, everyone was out having various versions of fun and she hated the idea of being left out, so she ended up wandering around town a little, visiting the public areas she had only ever seen in daylight. She was just walking up the Rammer Jammer for a drink when she noticed Polly Parker walking the same direction looking like she might fall over.

"Polly? Are you feeling okay?" She asked approaching the woman.

Polly looked at her like Zoe may attack her at any moment. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I'm Dr. Zoe Hart; we met yesterday at Dr. Breeland's office? I treated your sister." Zoe reasoned.

"Oh, I don't have a sister." Polly shook her head. "I don't know you, you get away from me."

Before Zoe could say anything the woman took her purse off her arm and swung it at Zoe as hard as she could, knocking the doctor to the ground, and then ran off. Zoe watched her go with concern. "Okay, I don't care what anyone says, that is not heat wave crazy. That is crazy crazy."

Dusting herself off she considered what Harley had told her, Polly was Brick's patient and therefor Brick needed to be involved to help determine how to treat her for whatever it was going on. Knowing that Lemon had planned a family dinner that night Zoe hesitantly headed over to the Breeland house when Brick didn't answer his phone. Magnolia, Brick's younger daughter answered the door haughtily, declaring that the grown-ups had gone to Fancies for dinner and she had been forced to stay home and do school work. Zoe walked away finally understanding Rose's distaste for the girl, and headed even more uncomfortably over to Fancies. She wondered why in the world they had gone out when Lemon had said she was making Duck, and noted that Lemon's attitude might not be the best at the intrusion.

Walking in the restaurant Zoe asked the hostess where the Breelands were seated; however, she almost didn't need to with the sound of Brick's bickering voice coming from the dining room. Turning the corner she felt a pang of pity for Lemon who was sitting in the middle of an argument between Brick and a man she presumed to be George's father over football. The woman sitting across from Lemon looked haughty and pleased with herself at something she had just said, and Lemon looked like she wanted to crawl under the table and die. Even more confusing was the fact that Lavon and Didi rushed out of the restaurant passed her as she walked in.

"Zoe?" George asked, noticing her first due to not having been engaged in conversation at all.

"George, Lemon, I am so sorry to interrupt, but Brick we have a situation with a patient." She looked apologetically at Lemon whose expression told her this was the final straw in whatever had been going on that night. "Again, I'm sorry; you must be the Tucker's. I'm Zoe Hart, the new doctor in town."

"Well aren't you itty bitty and precious." Mrs. Tucker gushed, causing Lemon to open and close her mouth like a fish in embarrassment.

Brick stood up concerned. "What happened?"

"Polly Parker happened. She just attacked me and then she ran off." Zoe tried to explain calmy. "I'm really sorry Lemon, but I'm afraid that if I go after her myself it might agitate her more. She needs a familiar face… Brick I need you to help me find her and make sure she's okay."

"But we are in the middle of dinner!" Lemon argued, not happy with how her evening had been going.

"Don't be selfish Lemon." Mrs. Tucker spat a little more harshly than necessary. "We are talking about a medical emergency."

Lemon looked like she might cry as Brick walked toward Zoe with no real choice in the matter. "Let's just do it real quick, okay."

That's when poor Lemon snapped. "Over my dead body. Do you know how hard I worked to make this evening special; between the duck and the irises and the squeezen' all those damn lemons? And all you people can talk about is football, football, football, and 'you sure you want to eat that' and now this? If anybody is leaving this sham of a dinner party it is me, Lemon Breeland. Do you hear that? I am leavin'! I am leavin'! I am leavin'!"

And then she left.

"I can't imagine why I ever called her high strung." Mrs. Tucker shrugged to the rest of the table looking like she had just won a boxing match.

Zoe shot her a dirty look and motioned for George, who was at a loss for words to follow his fiancé. Brick too looked put out as he and Zoe finally left the restaurant, which was now dead silent, to go look for Polly.

"I am really sorry about interrupting. She just attacked me out of nowhere; I didn't know what else to do." Zoe apologized as they walked quickly in the direction of Polly's house. "Please tell Lemon again how sorry I am. I didn't realize it was upset her so much."

"Lemon was already having a difficult evenin' when you showed up Zoe, but you couldn't have known." Brick answered, looking annoyed just the same.

"Yea well, I'll swing by and see her tomorrow. I really didn't want to ruin her night."

Brick nodded absently, looking at Polly's house. "Okay, her lights are on, she's home. Let me do the talking, please."

"I don't think that's going to be possible." Zoe stopped him pointing at the woman lying on the ground in front of her house. "Polly?"

Polly came to as the doctors knelt next to her. "Polly?"

"Where am I? What happened?" She asked, slurring her words like she was drunk.

Brick held her up a little. "It's Dr. Breeland; you're going to be okay. We're going to take you to the office."

"My head is throbbing!" Polly complained, finally focusing her eyes on Zoe.

"Is anything else bothering you?"

"I'm dizzy; I think I might throw up."

Brick looked at Zoe a little disgusted at the idea of trying to load her in his car. "Let's take her car."

"Polly do you remember seeing me at the Rammer Jammer tonight?" Zoe asked, sitting with her in the backseat while Brick started the car.

Polly looked lost and shaking her head. "Was I at the Rammer Jammer? I don't remember that at all."

The car started and Zoe sqenched up her nose in disgust. "What is that smell?"

Realization spread over Bricks face and he turn around to Polly. "That could be exhaust fumes coming up through the floor boards. When was the last time you had this car looked at?"

"I don't know, it was my mom's car."

Zoe suddenly understood Brick's line of thinking. "Have you been driving it ever since she passed away?"

"I work in mobile; it's faster than taking the bus… usually?"

"Do your headaches tend to get worse the longer time you spend in the car?"

Polly considered. "Well I never thought about it that way, but yea."

Brick and Zoe, grasping what had happened took Polly back to the office and called Fiona to come get her sister. Upon Fiona's arrival Zoe explained that the symptoms her sister had been experiencing were due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and that they were giving her oxygen to fight the affects. Fiona looked relieved and asked to see her sister, but that didn't stop the two from bickering as they left.

* * *

Heading back to the Rammer Jammer Zoe finally felt like it was just time to let go a little and climbed on a bar stool as Wade walked up to her waiting expectantly for her order. "Wine, Doc?"

"Um… no, not tonight. How about something a little stronger." She asked, finally giving into the heat. "Tequila please."

Wade raised an eyebrow but complied pouring her a shot, which she threw back with a wince and ordered another. He chuckled as she downed that one too. "I see someone decided to take part in the heat wave."

"After the night I've had its necessary." She told him, laughing just the same. "How about another?"

"You better watch yourself girl." He answered pouring it just the same. Setting the bottle down and leaning down on his forearms on the bar while she drank he watched her for a second. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Well I ruined a dinner party, and saved a life… and now I'm here…" She laughed shaking her head at the taste of the alcohol. "…I'm thinkin' it might be fun to act like a local for a bit…"

"And how are you plannin' on doing that?"

Zoe thought for a second. "Well, first I'm going to have another shot… then I'm going to go dance to whatever twangy stuff it is that's playing right now…"

For a brief second Wade considered not pouring her another drink, but she looked happy to be there so he figured another wouldn't hurt and filled her shot glass.

Zoe took the shot and smiled at him again. "Alright, now kindly directly me to the dance floor barkeep."

He shook his head but pointed across the room to where the band was playing just the same, watching her walk the whole way. The girl definitely needed someone to watch her back tonight, and as far as Wade could tell that job had fallen on him. But just the same it was nice to see Zoe loosen up and throw down with the rest of the town. He watched as she shimmied with Wanda and attempted to line dance to 'Achy Breaky Heart', and even two stepped with Tom who looked like he was living a dream come true. A couple times she looked back at Wade and waved for him to come join her on the floor, but each time he had held up whatever glass he was cleaning indicating that he was on the job. Her face fell a little when he said no, but it was seconds before she was back to singing along with the music and dancing with someone else.

Nearing closing time Wade started to notice how truly drunk she had become, after her first three shots he had cut her off after another two, which she had had to beg for. She'd stuck out her bottom lip at him, which is why he had given in, rationalizing to himself that he would give her a ride home so it wasn't like she would get hurt or anything. Now as the bar emptied of all the upstanding people of Bluebell and all that were left were troublemakers and people he didn't know he had started to regret that decision. He watched her even closer as she leaned on the bar and some good 'ol boy he'd never met started to flirt with her. Zoe drunkly giggled and allowed herself to be led back out on the floor for a slow dance.

Wade's eyes never left the two as the guy held her too him a little too close and Zoe's face became just a little more blank. He finally had enough when the guy's hands, which had been placed at the small of Zoe's back, slowly began to travel south. Throwing his towel on the bar Wade rushed passed the other customers to intervene. Reaching them Wade tapped the guy on the arm and he turned around upset.

"Do you mind buddy!" The guy asked.

"Wade!" Zoe smiled enthusiastically.

Wade rolled his eyes and looked back at the guy with an undeterred determination. "Yea, actually I do. Seems you're getting a little handsy with my friend there pal."

The man, who Wade knew for a fact had had three beers, just chuckled and attempted to go back to dancing; but Zoe, whose attention was now all on Wade, had other plans. Detaching herself from the guy she pulled Wade into a sloppy hug. "Awww! We're friends? That's just so sweet!"

"Sure, Doc. I think it's about time we got you home though. Before you make a lot more friends tonight." Wade told her, directing the tiny woman back towards the bar. "You just sit here for a few more minutes while I get this place closed up… Actually, you know what? Drink this water while you're at it."

"You're so sweet Wade!" Zoe told him, doe-eyed. "I'm lucky to have you!"

Wade, who'd dealt with his share of drunks took none of her words to heart as he she lavished him with praise while he worked. Ushering the last patron out the door and moving to turn off the lights he couldn't help but laugh though, as she told him he reminded her of John Wayne. He wasn't sure where that particular reference had come from in her drunk brain, but he liked it just the same. Locking the front door he led her out the back to his car and helped her in the passenger seat.

"Oh girl, I am going to have so much fun teasing you about this tomorrow." He laughed as she giggled the whole was back to the plantation.

Stopping outside her house he helped her up the steps and stood on the porch with her while she tried to locate her keys. Finally finding them she turned back to him with a look of triumph and something else. "You really watch out for me Wade… and I've been thinking…"

"Drunk thinking…"He reminded her.

Zoe slumped a little with a shrug before standing on her tippy toes to put her arms around his neck and pull him towards her. "Do you want to come in?"

Wade put his hands on her waist and remembered how it had felt to hold her small frame to him during their kiss in his living room her first week. Zoe looked up at him longingly and he started to lean in for the kiss. Then the rain broke. A clap of thunder pulled him from the daze of having her in his arms and he pulled away from her, remembering the look on Harley's face as he laid the ground rules by which Wade wasn't sure he could comply.

"You should go to bed Zoe." He told her stepping back down onto the steps.

She looked confused and a little hurt as she rushed inside away from him, but Wade walked through the rain back to his car feeling confident that he'd made the right choice.

Zoe woke up the next morning still dressed in the cloths she had worn the day before with a massive hangover. Looking over at her bedside table she noted the aspirin and bottle of water that someone had left for her. Thinking back to the night before things seemed hazy and the last thing she remembered was Wade leading her off the dance floor.


	5. Chapter 5

**What a difference a Father makes: Faith and Infidelity/ The Undead and The Unsaid.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, so this chapter is a little different, in that I combined two episodes together into one. On its own I couldn't justify **_**Faith and Infidelity**_** being its own chapter, because it's doubtful Harley would have let Zoe cause so much trouble for the Reverend and his wife. These two episodes also heavily carried Lemon/George storylines, which I'm choosing not to focus on at the moment. Ultimately, I really think the story lines of these two episodes flowed together really well, making it easier for them to be conceived in the same timeline. As always I give all the credit for the Characters and much of the dialog to Leila Gerstein and the other creators of Hart of Dixie. Also I must give credit as well to the writers of _Moon River_, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. **

**Please continue to review!**

* * *

The buzzing never stops. They tell you it will. But it doesn't. It just goes on and on and on. FOREVER. And then one Sunday you wake up and decide you've had enough and go crazy by walking through town looking for a wayward handyman… and then you embarrass your father by throwing open the doors to a packed church in nothing but your pajamas. Yea, that happened.

"Everyone was in church. Everyone. It's like the world ended. I couldn't even buy a cup of coffee. That should be against some kind of law." Zoe lamented walking into Lavon's kitchen in a huff.

Wade sat at the counter eating his cereal, the whole time watching her like she was a cartoon. She finally stopped and stared at him waiting for him to respond. "Mornin' to you too sunshine."

"Listen cowboy. It's your fault I'm even up at this hour." She pointed at him angrily. "You promised me that you would fix my screen… there are flies everywhere…."

"Cowboy?" Wade asked not listening to her ramble about how he'd been the one to break the screen and it was his fault that the flies had arrived due to his mess on his front porch.

Zoe scowled at him when she realized he wasn't listening at all. "Do you ever take anything seriously?"

He shrugged and smiled at her before taking another bite of cereal, but motioned for her to hand him the screen as he chewed. "I'll fix it today, okay. Just stop your whining."

"I don't whine." Zoe snapped back, but secretly felt the swell of victory at his agreeing to do what she asked. "By the way I'm gonna clean all the trash off your porch if you don't do it. It's a health hazard and I'd hate it to be condemned."

"Power to ya doc."

Zoe opened the cabinet ignoring him again and went in search of some breakfast. "You ate all the cereal again."

"Oops."

Zoe leaned her head back and sighed. Typical. It was like a dance with him. One nice thing and he was back to driving her insane. She rolled her eyes and tried to find something else in the cabinet to eat. Giving up she flung it closed and settled on making coffee. "So how mad at me do you think Harley is going to be for my little show this morning?"

"In my experience, Dr. Wilkes doesn't exactly get mad…" Wade told her. "usually everything with him ends up being a learnin' experience…"

"Which means?"

"Mean's your ass is going to be in a pew next week." Wade laughed getting up, and carrying her screen towards the door. "Have fun!"

And that's when Zoe vowed to herself; whatever little lesson it was her father was going to try to teach her this week, Wade was going down with her.

* * *

"Zoe!" A knock at her front door pulled her away from her computer and the sound of Harley's voice entering her home made her throw the dirty clothes on the floor behind her couch. He walked in just as they fell causing her to turn around with a look of being caught. "Well I see I'm not interrupting anything important."

He was carrying a bunt cake with white icing carefully piped over the top, which he set down carefully on her dresser. Zoe looked up at him with guilt on her face, convinced she was about to hear the same speech she knew so well from her childhood. She could practically recite it from how often her parents had recited it after their parties, it was the "you will never embarrass me like that in front of people who matter speech." She'd heard it at hospitals from Dr. Ethan Hart after asking questions of his peers. She'd heard it from her mother when she'd blown bubbles in her soda while out at luncheons. And now finally it was time to hear it from her biological father.

"So I see you got that screen fixed?" He asked, eyebrow raised, while sitting down next to her.

"Wade."

He nodded and looked around the small carriage house with interested. It was the first time he had been there since she had moved in, and she wondered if he had actually known what kind place she would living in when he had made the plans with Lavon. "The bunt is from Mrs. Mayfair… the reverend's wife… She wanted to bring it herself but I thought you might feel a little ambushed."

"Uh… thanks… she made me a cake?" Zoe looked at it with interest. "Why would she do that?"

"Actually I think she's felt a little guilty that she hadn't brought it yet, you have been in town almost two months and she usually acts as the welcomin' committee." He didn't seem upset as he spoke, simply explaining himself in the same way he did everything else. "You should take it over to the main house, later. I'm sure the boys would like some."

"You're not mad at me?"

"For what? Coming to the church this morning?" Harley looked surprised and Zoe rose an eyebrow nodding. "Oh Zoe, you have to know that I would never get upset over such a little thing… I do wish you might have stayed…"

"You know I'm Jewish, right?"

"I assumed that's how your mother would raise you." He laughed nodding. "Of course I understand that… you don't have to come if you don't want to, but the door is always open…"

Zoe said nothing but smiled weakly nodding. Harley didn't seem concerned and looked around the room with interest. "You know, I'm sure if you asked, Wade would be happy to put up some drywall in here…"

"Yea, I just don't want him to put in all that work when I might not…" She stopped herself before saying that she might not stay, noting the slight fall in Harley's face at the idea. "Besides, if I asked him it would probably take him two years to actually do anything… not really a go getter…"

"You might be surprised at how motivated Young Kinsella can be when he gets something in his head." Harley laughed. "Sometimes just the mere suggestion that he can't have or do somethin' makes him surpass even his expectations."

Zoe looked confused. "I don't think anyone believes that Wade can't put up drywall… in fact that's pretty high on his list of skills."

"I suppose it is." Harley laughed, patting the couch before standing back up. "Well I just wanted to bring that cake over for you. You rest up the rest of the day; we've got a busy week. Brick is going his annual fishing trip so it's just you and me."

"I think we can handle it." Zoe let her face get serious. "I'll see you tomorrow Harley."

"Goodbye sweetie."

* * *

Walking around the practice the next day Zoe looked around a little bored. Aside from Harley's insistence that it was going to be a busy week, Zoe had done nothing more all morning than remove a marble from the nose of a six year old. The bell over the door rang and she momentarily got excited before turning around to see Wade helping an older man into the office, who looked vauguely familiar.

"Hey Doc, Crazy Earl needs a once over." He called looking more angry than concerned.

Zoe beckoned Addie to help and they rushed to help set the man down in a chair. "What happened?"

"Old man was passed out drunk under my boat trailer. I backed over him." He responded, annoyed.

"You ran over him!" Zoe looked horrified.

"I don't didn't run over him, okay!" Wade rolled his eyes like she was being over dramatic. "I was goin' fishin' and I backed over him with my boat trailer, which weighs next to nothin'."

Zoe glared up at him as she knelt next to the older man. She shook her head and directed her attention to Earl, resolving to deal with his misguided friend later. "Sir, are you having any trouble breathing?"

Earl amitted a large breath in her face, nearly knocking her down with the stench of bourbon. "Okay, we don't need to do that anymore."

"Pulse is fine" Addie, reported before going back to the desk, convinced herself that there was nothing truly wrong with the man.

Wade continued to roll his eyes, but let Zoe continue her exam. "See there, he's drunk as a skunk, you couldn't hurt him if you tried. Now all the good fishing spots are going to be gone."

"Really?" Zoe looked amazed at his attitude towards the man. "You ran over him and your annoyed?"

"Like I randomly check to see if anyone happens to be passed out beneath my boat."

"I was asleep!" Earl told them, as if it should be obvious. His eyes finally focused on Zoe and he smiled. "You are pretty."

Wade hit him upside the head.

"And you are lucky. No broken bones, your abdomen is soft and non-tender, I think you're going to be fine. " She told Earl kindly before looking back to Wade. "No thanks to you. Let's get him into the exam room to lie down. I think you he could use a nap."

"Last time I tied that I got run over.

"Backed over!" Wade responded defensively before helping Zoe haul the man into the exam room."

They set Earl down on the exam table and Wade followed Zoe back out into the reception as she quietly closed the door behind them. "I didn't mean too… Crazy Earl… he tends to get himself into these scrapes… Is he really gonna be okay?"

Zoe studied her friend and noticed the true concern behind his bravado. "He'll be fine. We'll watch him for a few hours, but I'm not worried. Are you alright?"

"Par for the course, Doc." Wade nodded to her, reaching out and rubbing her arm a little before heading to the door. "I'll see you later."

Zoe looked down at the spot on her arm where he had touched her as he left, enjoying but confused by the warmth that she felt at the contact. For the past week or so she had been feeling this odd closeness to him, but for the life of her couldn't determine why, even more strange was his slight change in demeanor towards her. She could almost swear that he was wavering between wanting to be around her and wanting to run in the other direction whenever she came around.

Addie walked back over to her with a file pulling her from her thoughts. "Dr. Hart. Here are some test results that just came in. Normally I would leave them for Brick, seen as how it's his patient, but these seem a little time sensitive."

Zoe looked down at the file in Addie's hand and shook her head. "Yea, Brick hates it when I get involved with his patients without his permission. Let's let Harley handle it, and avoid that look on Brick's face when he gets back."

Addie nodded and disappeared behind the old oak door to Harley's office just as the bell over the door once again rang and a whoosh of Breeland appeared before her. "Magnolia, Hi! Your dad already left for his trip…"

"Zoe, what do you think of my dress?" Magnolia asked spinning around in front of her disregarding any mention of her father. The dress was bright pink, strapless, and far too short. "I just bought it, isn't it cute?"

Zoe watched the young girl with perplexity and waited for her to stop dancing. "You look… like Taylor Swift? Has your sister seen this?"

Right on cue the bell rang again and in came Lemon, stomping with anger. "I knew it! Always running off when you don't get your way."

"Zoe likes my dress." Magnolia responded haughtily.

Zoe looked apologetically at her friend. "Not exactly what I said."

"Zoe!" Lemon chastised. "This dress shows places only God should see! It's like something one of those girls on MTV would wear. Magnolia said she would march right back to the store and go return it but now she's traipsin' around in it so they won't take it back."

"Just because I dress like its 2011 and not 1952 or somethin'…" Magnolia agrued..

Zoe stepped between them calmly. "Okay, stop stop stop… I really don't want to get in the middle of this little family squabble, but seriously, Magnolia… your sister is right… that dress is just… its way to revealing for someone your age."

Magnolia opened her mouth and closed it as if Zoe had just completely thrown her to the wolves. She looked around the young doctor to her sister, who had her arms crossed over her chest vindicated. "You are ruinin' my life! I'm callin' daddy."

Before either Lemon or Zoe could stop her, Magnolia was back out the door as fast as she had come. "I'm so sorry, Zoe. When I told her no she insisted that it was somethin' you would wear and just took off to find an ally."

Zoe shrugged and smiled at Lemon reassuringly. "Let's just hope, Brick see's around the game too. How are you doing?"

"Oh you know, Dilia Anne Lee is picking a new liason for the Memory Matrons and Daddy's out-of-town… and there's just so much wedding planning left to do…" Lemon rattled off with ease, trying to hide the stress.

Zoe thought about how little she had to do that week and shrugged. "Well if you need help with anything, let me know… I'm pretty free."

"Oh how sweet of you!" Lemon smiled, the wheels already turning in her head. "Well if your sure… I have some print materials waiting for me in Mobile for my project with the Memory Matrons… I just don't know when I'll have the time to go get them…"

Zoe nodded understanding. "Don't worry. I'll borrow Lavon's car after work and go. Just give me the address and let them know I'll be the one to pick it up… It's just a couple of poster's right?"

"Oh yes. Posters of the covered bridge… and some pamphlets… a few binders with the proposal to present to the board…" Lemon stopped herself looked at Zoe with seriousness. "Honestly Zoe, I really appreciate this. I owe you one."

"No problem. What are friends for?"

* * *

"Lavon, Hi, two things. Please replace the fuse box. Wade gave me that new bug zapper and it keeps blowing the power. And two… can you drive me out to Mobile to pick up some things for Lemon… I'm doing her a favor."

"Fuse box, yes." He nodded to her happily. "Ride… no. I have a prior commitment. Drive yourself. Go on, take the hybrid."

"But you always drive me." Zoe whined a little.

Lavon stood firm. "I can't just keep you company every time you have to go anywhere. I have important mayoral business to conduct."

The door to the kitchen opened behind them and Wade came in carrying a 6 pack of beers. "Heyo! Big man! You got the tv warmed up? Hey Doc, you want to join us for the Ladies beach volleyball championships?"

Zoe glared at Lavon disgusted, all the while trying to ignore the feeling of having Wade stand so close to her. He was there to watch women jump around in the sand, she reminded herself.

Lavon was caught, and he shot Wade a look of annoyance before relenting a little. "Fine, take the Navigator. Just don't change the radio stations."

Zoe, having won bounced over to the key hook, Wade following her all the way. "Can you even drive?"

"I've had my license since I was sixteen." She fired back, wondering how a man who backed over someone earlier in the day was hassling her about driving.

"Have you driven since then?"

"The principles haven't changed. It's not a flying car." She smiled a little at him, wondering where in the world the concern was coming from. "I gotta go."

* * *

Driving back from Mobile that night in the dark Zoe was not enjoying the overly automated nature of the Navigator. Was it really necessary to have everything in the dashboard voice activated? That, and the stupid gps kept trying to get her to turn down nonexistent roads. Allowing her phone to be picked up by the Bluetooth Zoe voice dialed Lemons number, it rang straight through to voicemail. "Hey Lemon… I have all the stuff from the printers… I don't know if you realized but there are about six huge boxes here… anyway I'll get Wade to help me unload them at your house tomorrow. I hope things calmed down for you. Have a great night. Bye."

As she drove the fog through the back Alabama woods seemed to grow thicker and Zoe started to get more and more nervous about what was around each corner. It reminded her of a horror movie and she convinced herself that something bad was about to happen and then…BAM! Zoe stopped the car in horror, convinced she had hit something and opened the door with trepidation to let herself out of the giant vehicle. For crying out loud if she hit something after all the crap she had given Wade she was never going to hear the end of it.

Walking around to the front of the car she breathed a sigh of relief as she examined the car and found that she hadn't hit anything… until she saw the tire. Hitting herself on the forehead she mentally chastised herself for managing to run over the biggest pothole in the state, catching it at just the right angle and deflating the tire. Wonderful!

Getting back in the car she swallowed her pride and made yet another call. "Hey Wade… I need your help."

She hadn't appreciate his laughing at her, but he said he'd be there quickly and Zoe turned off the car to wait for him to come and save her… again. Sitting alone in the car her feeling of being in a horror movie returned, and she locked the doors. She could make it until Wade got there… of course she could. She was a strong New York doctor. The woods didn't scare her. She'd walked through Central Park at two in the morning. Nothing here could be scarier than that. Right? She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. How long had she been waiting there? She glanced at her phone… two minutes. Wade said it would be about twenty until he could get there…

She kept trying to stay calm as she waited, ignoring the outside world and focusing on the medical journal she'd pulled up on her phone. There was no reason to waste time, right?

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Zoe looked up assuming it was Wade, and screamed. Standing outside her window was a man who looked more akin to Bigfoot than anything she had ever seen. His eyes were sallow, his cloths torn, and his face sported the most scraggly beard she had ever seen. He looked shaken by her reaction, but before she could compose herself headlights turned down the road blinding her and he was gone.

She was still stammering when she got out of her car to run to Wade who was examining the tire with his hands in his pockets. "Fine job you did here, Doc."

"Did you see him?" She asked looking around , moving closer to her friend for protection. "Where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go? There's nobody else here." Wade glanced around, but saw no one.

"There was a man, Wade. He tapped on my window…" Zoe insisted. "He was there."

"Are you sure you didn't just see a deer?" Wade put an arm around her and led her to his car. "Or a bat maybe. We are in the woods in the middle of the night."

Zoe got in the car and pouted a little at his disbelief. "I did see a man."

"Fine, you saw a man." He responded giving up. "Listen, I can't do anything about that tire tonight. We'll just lock the car and leave it here until tomorrow and Lavon and I can come out and change the tire in the morning, okay?"

"Sure." Zoe said a little despondently.

Wade got in the driver seat and shook his head at her. "Okay, girl, you clearly need a drink... but maybe just one this time… I don't want to have to carry you home again."

Zoe nodded and let Wade drive them over to the Rammer Jammer. Being a Monday night at nearly 10:30 the place was nearly empty, just a few drunks sitting at the bar not hurting anyone. Shelly handed Wade a beer and poured Zoe a glass of wine before going back to the nightly ritual of sweeping the floors. Feeling a little better now that she was in a well lit area Zoe wandered away from Wade whose interest seemed to be fully on his beer. He had figured she'd be okay after a bit, she wasn't the first girl he'd met who was afraid of Settler's woods. Yea, one glass of wine and she'd be okay… or so he thought until the sound of breaking glass caused him to turn around.

"That's him!" Zoe pointed, stepping over the splattered wine glass she had dropped on the floor. "That's the guy from the woods."

Wade walked over to her, now wondering who he should go to to get the doctor's head examined. "That's him or it looks like him, Doc."

"That's HIM." She insisted.

Wade looked at the picture of the man and back at Zoe. "Nope. Can't be."

"Well it is!"

"Doc, that's Lyon Mercy. He's been dead for over a year." Wade was starting to rethink that drink. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Zoe stared at the picture harder. Sure the guy in it was more cleaned up than the man she's seen in the woods, but they were defiantly one in the same. She looked back at Wade with more horror. Had she seen a ghost? No way. Maybe? She wasn't sure, and even more disconcerting was the look of concern for her sanity that was washing over Wade's features.

"I think we should just go home now." He decided after a minute. Zoe still looked shaken and he was wondering if something more may have happened out in those woods. "Lets go."

* * *

Zoe hadn't been able to be alone that night. The thoughts of that man outside her window had driven her wide awake and instead she sat in Lavon's kitchen all night drinking coffee and reading. This of course meant that she went to work the next day exhausted, but Harley didn't seem to notice, wrapped up completely in some mystery involving the Reverend and his wife. Zoe wasn't entirely sure what was going on but after their second appointment that week she watched as Mrs. Mayfair bolted from Harley's office looking immensely hurt.

Feeding her own mystery Zoe chose to pepper Addie with questions about Lyon Mercy who, she was now convinced must be alive. Addie looked at her like she was crazy, but still told her the story of how Lyon had saved an entire family from their burning home the previous year, and only three months later had died in a boating accident. Zoe listened but was undeterred from her feeling that something just wasn't right.

Going over to the Rammer Jammer after work she sat down at the bar, exhausted, but uninterested in being alone. Wade poured her a glass of wine without even having to ask. "Doin' any better, Doc?"

She shrugged, looking around the room with interest at how loud everyone was getting. "What's up with them?"

"Big gossip around here. The Mayfair's split up… apparently Mrs. Mayfair got it in her head that the minister cheated." Wade told her, having heard the whole story from a teary eyed Wanda. "It's the talk of the town."

Zoe shrugged and wondered what the hell was going on around here. "Gotta say, not entirely surprised. People cheat, happens all the time."

"But he's a reverend…" Wade responded, wondering why she wasn't more surprised by the strange turn of events affecting town. Zoe shrugged. "I think you're just tired. Maybe you should head home and go to sleep."

Zoe agreed and slid off the bar stool, heading out into the cool night air. Walking through town she wondered to herself what exactly it had been that Harley had said to the couple earlier that would make them split up by that night. She also wondered how the hell she was going to walk all the way home by herself in the woods without freaking out over a nonexistent ghost. Absorbed in her own thoughts she was startled to hear someone calling out to her from above, and even more startled to find Earl standing on top of the hardware store.

"Hey Pretty Lady! This is goodbye!" He called standing on the edge like he was going to jump.

Zoe looked around thinking she must be getting punked. "You have got to be kidding me."

The next several moments were spent trying to console the man, now fully understanding why he was called crazy. These moments were perhaps the longest of her life, and she breathed a slight sigh of relief as a crowd began to form. But nobody made any move to stop him. They just gathered, looking up at him like it was some show. So, naturally, she went back to panicking.

"Isn't anyone going to do anything?" She asked looking around at the people who were usually so interested in getting involved. "Don't you have a wacky volunteer fire department or something?"

Tom, never taking his eyes off Earl, shook his head. "Well they don't like to be called on their poker night."

"I'm jumpin'! Tell my family goodbye." Earl called, clearly enjoying the attention.

Zoe closed her eyes in disbelief. She had to be dreaming. "Somebody should go up there. Isn't there a social worker, or suicide hotline?"

"Oh honey, that's just crazy Earl." Shelly told her, completely unworried.

Zoe looked around helpless, finally deciding she was the only hope here and went about trying to find a way onto the roof herself. She'd almost gotten it figured out when she heard a the towns people cheering.

"Whoo Hoo! Go Wade." Shelly yelled clapping.

Zoe, jumped down from the fence she had been climbing and ran back out to the crowd to find Wade standing on the roof with Earl, once again more angry than concerned. "Okay, time to come down. Come on Earl, you're not gonna jump."

"Here I go." Earl refused to comply holding one foot out over the open space.

"No!" Zoe yell, directing Wade's attention to her for a minute. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the older man.

"Damn it Earl, come with me." He reached out to the crazy man, now even angrier. "Stop this!"

"I won't." Earl responded like a petulant child.

Wade shook his head at the man, still not giving up. "I'm not gonna do it. Now come on. Look at the Doc, she's about to pee her pants. Come with me before you hurt yourself."

"Only. If. You. Do. IT." Earl insisted again.

"No." Wade answered flatly.

"Goodbye everyone!" Earl took yet another step.

Zoe jumped, sending pleading looks at Wade to do whatever was necessary to make this all stop. Wade glanced back at her with an unsure expression, but before Earl could go any further he opened his mouth and truly surprised her. _"Moon river, wider than a mile/ I'm crossing you in style someday/ Oh dream maker, you heart breaker/ wherever you're going I'm going your way_."

The sound of his voice singing over the town would have been sweet, had he not looked like completely embarrassed and upset over having to be there. To Zoe's surprise as he sang Earl joined him with a smile on his face that showed he'd been planning this all along. Looking around at everyone in the square again she was blown away by the fact that they started singing too.

The musical continued and she wondered what movie she had ended up in. "_Two drifters off to see the world/ There's such a lot of world to see/ We're after the same rainbow's end/ waitin' round the bend/ my huckleberry friend/ moon river and me."_

Zoe couldn't explain the feeling that come over her as she watched Wade on that roof, singing to the man who had clearly done this before. He glanced down at her again as he finished the song and shrugged. Everyone clapped as Earl took a bow and Wade held out his hand to the man again. "Okay, okay. Hey Dad, it's time to go home. Lets go."

"Dad?" Zoe asked to nobody. She'd never considered that Wade might actually have parents. He never talked about his family. She looked to Shelly for explination, who just smiled and nodded as she headed back to the Rammer Jammer.

Lavon walked up to Zoe with his hands in his pockets, also not surprised by the events of the night, but understanding her trepidation. "Every month, Earl cashes his government check and then heads straight for the liquor store. Then he gets drunk and climbs up there on that roof. Every month, his son comes and sings him down. "

"Wow." Zoe looked back up at the now empty roof. "I had no idea."

"I don't know, maybe ninety-nine out of hundred people will disappoint you. But I find the magic of the world in the margin of error." Lavon told her smiling. "Can I walk you back to the plantation?"

Zoe nodded and smiled at the thought.

* * *

Lying in bed that night Zoe stared at the ceiling, counting boards and wishing she could just fall asleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Wade on top of that roof, amazed by his ability to do something so heroic time and time again for his drunken father. She would be lulled by that thought for a while until she would close her eyes and start to fall asleep. It was at that point, the break between awake and asleep, that something else would flash through her mind, the image of Lyon Mercy outside the car window. The third time she jolted herself awake she gave up and looked around the room for some other option. The sound of Wade's guitar wafted over the pond to her house and she got an idea. Getting out of bed she moved around the carriage house, methodically turning on every electronic she had, but nothing seemed to be working, she looked out the window hoping that he would at least notice the noise she'd created. Looking out the window she remembered the one electrical element she hadn't turned on. The bug-zapper. It hummed to life when she flicked the switch, but in a satisfying flash the fuse blew and the light in both houses flickered off.

"Damn it Zoe!" His voice hollered out and she smiled in triumph.

Lighting a candle she waited sitting on her bed for him to show up, and true to form he appeared, shirtless, but looking bemused. "Hey, what the hell."

"I am so so sorry. It must be the new bug-zapper. I totally forgot." She smiled, pretending this wasn't intentional.

He wasn't buying it. "What are you even doing up at this hour?"

"I'm not sleepy."

"Yea, well I don't care. Go to bed."

He turned to leave and she panicked. "No wait, wait! Since we're both up, you wanna hang out? Have some tea or something?"

Wade stared at her with interest. Was she trying to come on to him? He couldn't tell. She'd done it before, but last time she was drunk which she defiantly wasn't this time. Any normal man would take advantage of this situation; drink her stupid tea and let nature take its course… but as Dr. Wilkes had said, Zoe was a relationship kind of girl… and she needed a relationship kind of guy. She looked at him with interest and he tried to fight that feeling in his gut that was telling him to take her in his arms no matter the consequences.

"Listen Doc, your kinda acting like a certifiable crazy person right now, and I've had about all the crazy I can take for one day." He tried to tell her kindly and turned to leave.

Zoe threw up her hands in frustration turned back to her bed wondering what the hell had just happened. She was just about to climb back into bed when the same face she'd seen in her nightmares appeared outside her window again, causing her to scream.

Her screen door opened and closed again as Wade rushed back inside. "What! What is it?"

Zoe ran behind Wade for protection again and pointed out the window. "Lyon Mercy!"

"Lyon Mercy?" He asked disbelieving, pointing his flashlight out the window. "Oh yea, there's like ten Lyon Mercys out here…"

Zoe's eyes widened but she tried to hide her fear as he mocked her. Wade turned back to her again and shook his head. She just kept making it easier and easier for him to do the wrong thing and he had to hold his ground here. "Okay, there is no Lyon Mercy. No ghosts, nothing. Just shut the damn window and go back to bed. Please Zoe."

"I'm sorry! Maybe I'm nuts." She admitted pleadingly, reaching to grab his hand as he left. "Please just stay until morning. Please."

The feeling of her hand in his made him turn around to look at her, and seeing that she was truly scared he was unable to leave. "Alright… I'll take the couch."

Zoe nodded made her way back over to the bed, lying down as Wade tried to settle himself onto the couch. Lying down for a minute she stared back up at the ceiling and tried to go to sleep… it didn't work. "Wade?"

"What now?"

"Can you come sleep over here, please?" She asked. listening for him to respond she only heard a scoff come from his throat. "No, really… was just thinking… if someone comes in here and you're all the way over there then they could kill me before you can get 'em…"

"You're insane, Doc." He sighed, but threw his legs onto the floor anyway and walked the short distance to her bed. Laying down on the other side on top of the covers he faced away from her commanding her once again to go to sleep.

Zoe felt her fears quell with his weight on the other side of the bed and her eyelids started to feel heavier. Just as she drifted off to sleep she thought again of his bravery that day. "You're a good man Wade… and a very good son… my hero…"

The even sounds of her breathing indicated to Wade that Zoe had finally fallen asleep and he turn over to watch her for a while. He could mentally slap himself for ending up here, but now that he had there was really no denying it; he was in deep. The sound of her whispering the sweetest words any woman had ever said to him and meaning it had erased any doubt in his mind that he was now unequivocally deeply in love with Zoe Hart.

* * *

The morning sun came through the window of the carriage house and warmed on Zoe's face as the sound of someone moving pulled her from her deep slumber. It was the best sleep she had had in months, possibly her whole life and the first time she had woken up with a smile on her face since coming to Bluebell. She glanced over at the clock and noticed it was nearly ten o'clock and suddenly felt a rush to get to work.

"Don't worry about it Doc, I called Dr. Wilkes and told him you wouldn't be in till later." Wade told her, exiting her bathroom. "After all, we've got some huntin' to do."

Zoe blinked at him and wondered what the hell he was talking about. "Hunting?"

"You're convinced Lyon Mercy is out in those woods? Well it's going to a whole lot easier to find him in the daylight."

"You believe me?" She asked, getting out of bed and moving towards her dresser to get some clean cloths.

Wade shrugged. "I figure this is easier than letting you go on acting like a crazy person. If we don't find him you'll know you did everything you could."

Zoe smiled at him and went in the bathroom to get ready to go. Clearly something had change in Wade during the night, but she couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. She ran her fingers through her hair and thought about how much different he had turned out to be from what she had thought when they'd first met. Yes, he was completely immature, and crass, and not exactly clean all the time… but as it turned out he was also the type of man she could depend on to take care of her. She liked him, which was terrifying unto itself, because she hadn't truly liked anyone in a very very long time.

"Are you coming or what?" He called after a few minutes of waiting and Zoe took one last look at herself in the mirror and smiled. Sure, hiking through the woods wasn't exactly her thing, but at least this time she had someone there to watch for snakes.

* * *

"You know, traditionally when you're huntin', you keep quiet… you know, so you don't scare off whatever it is that you're huntin' for…" Wade whispered to her, holding on to her elbow to keep her from tripping over tree roots. "Now the car hit the pothole over there so I'm thinkin' that if there is a mystery guy out here he wouldn't have gone far."

Zoe looked around the woods determined. "Why do you think he showed up at my house?"

"Well you're hot…"

"Oh geeze…" She scowled at him but kept walking. She walked a little ahead of him for a minute but one miss step and she was on her butt, looking up at Wade with fear. "What the hell was that?"

"Looks like you managed to find yourself in a trap." Wade examined the rope tied around her ankle with surprised. "Can't say I'm surprised."

Zoe rolled her eyes and pointed at the rope indicating that he needed to remove it. "Can you just…"

Wade's ears perked up and he held up a hand to stop her. "Shh."

"Did you just shhh me? You did not just shhh me…" Zoe argued and Wade shhh'd her again pointing in the distance through the trees. There standing in the brush was the very man they had been looking for, carrying a hatchet.

"Lyon, are you hurt? You look hurt." Zoe asked him, noting the dried blood on his shirt from a nasty gash on his arm.

Wade stepped in front of her protectively, rolling his eyes at her lack of common sense. "Still pretty good for a guy that's been dead for a year."

Zoe looked around him, still doing her job. "Your cut looks bad, it could be infected. We should get you to a hospital."

"No. " Lyon said shaking his head.

"Yes!" She argued back.

"Zoe, traditionally in a yes-no situation the argument goes to the guy with a hatchet." Wade grabbed a stick from next to them to use as a weapon should it become necessary.

Zoe was far less than concerned. "He came all the way to my house. He needs my help. He could be confused. Do you know there are people looking for you? Do you know that you have a wife and child?"

Lyon scowled at her a little before raising his hatchet and bringing it down on the rope far to close to her for Wade's comfort. "Why the hell do you think I'm out here?"

Wade helped her up and they followed Lyon further into the woods until coming upon an old abandoned trailer. Deducing that the man was not mentally incapacitated in anyway Zoe started prying into his situation trying to determine why in the world he was out there. After much assumption from the doctor Lyon finally relented and explained that he had faked his own death in order to save his family from the embarrassment of having him as a father. Wade confirmed that Lyon had been a little wild and often drunk in the past, gambling, and generally causing trouble. Lyon even admitted that he had been drunk the night he had saved that family from the fire, and was unsure if he had meant to save them or rob them. So he left on top, knowing he couldn't do any better he let his family believe he had died a hero and faked his own death to save them from the embarrassment of finding out that he wasn't. "Now and forever my son will think of his daddy as a hero."

Zoe looked at him and nodded thoughtfully. She bit her lip and looked back at Wade, her eyes full of meaning. If anyone knew about the difficult relationships between father and child it was the two of them. "He doesn't even now he has a daddy. Believe me he is not better off."

"You don't have kids, do you?" Lyon asked knowing the answer.

"No."

"You cannot possibly imagine the choices." He tried to explain himself. "You might not understand why I did what I did, but I did what I thought was right for my child."

Zoe finished stiching up Lyon's arm, but said nothing further about his disappearance. After she was done she turned back to Wade and nodded to him, saying nothing further to the coward of a man and let her friend lead her out of the woods.

As a courtesy, Wade said nothing about the tears he saw forming in her eyes at the situation and dropped her off at the office without saying much of anything. He'd seen the look on her face at the idea of Lyon's son growing up without a father, and felt his heart break a little at seeing her so sad. Getting out of the car she waved at him a little before heading into the office leaving him alone for the first time in hours. Looking back at the practice he decided against going home and headed back out to the woods again. Maybe he and Lyon should have another little talk...

* * *

Walking into the office still affected by her conversation with Lyon, Zoe knocked on Harley's office door and opened it to find him sitting at his desk. Harley looked up at her smiling and waved for her to come in and sit down. Taking her usual place in the guest chairs, rather than at the desk he had so lovingly set up for her she studied his features and tried to relate them to her own.

"Harley, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." He didn't even look up, but she knew he was listening.

Zoe thought for a second about how to word her question. "Why did you wait so long to come and find me?"

Now he looked up at her. "I always knew where you were Zoe. Always. But you needed two parents, and it wasn't worth disrupting your life to fight your mother. As much as I wanted you here with me, I had to do what was best for you. That's what a parent does."

Zoe nodded, biting down hard on her teeth to keep from crying. She smiled at him weakly and wiped the tear that had gotten away from her away. "Well I'm really glad you finally came for me…"

Getting up before Harley could say anything else she left the room and went about busying herself elsewhere. As soon as the day was over that night she immediately went home and called her mom. Not because she wasn't still mad at her, but because the emotional exhaustion of cutting a parent out of her life was just more than she could handle. Climbing into bed early that night she fell asleep quickly, but nowhere near as deeply as she had the night before.

* * *

"Why do you look tired again?" Wade asked, brow furrowed, when Zoe came in and sat down at the bar again on Friday night. She gave him a shrug and laid her head on the bar. "Okay Doc, you can eat here, you can drink her, but if you sleep here we're going to have to charge you hotel tax."

"I'm sorry. I haven't been sleeping well the past couple of nights. I just keep lying awake listening to the bug-zapper and thinking about Lyon and his son…" She looked up at him shaking her head. "It's just so wrong… I don't think I can pretend like I don't know what he did…"

He wasn't surprised by how shook up she was by the whole situation, and couldn't stand to see her suffer over it anymore, so reached behind the bar and pulled out the picture he'd taken down that evening.

Zoe looked at and glanced at him in surprise. "Why is Lyon's picture off the wall of dead people?"

"Oh, well he's not dead anymore." He told her, pouring her a glass of wine. "That's right. He came walking back into town just today. Nearly scared the pee out of his wife."

"I can imagine." Zoe smiled.

"I guess he told her some crazy story about fakin' his own death. They seem to be talkin' though." He smiled at Zoe and stepped back. "But I hear he hasn't put that boy of his down yet."

She smiled warmly at him. "Well thanks for the drink. And helping me with Lyon… and staying over, and rescuing me… again…"

"It's no wonder I'm so tired." He laughed. "So you think you'll sleep better tonight, now that it's all cleared up?"

Zoe thought for a minute and shrugged. She'd never tell him, but she couldn't imagine sleeping better than she had when he'd been there watching over her. "Hopefully… hey I was going to ask you… Harley wants me to go with him to the pancake breakfast on Sunday, he says that after the week the Mayfairs have had they need all their neighbors around… so do you maybe want to go with us?"

"So they're back together then I take it?"

Zoe nodded. "Yea, I guess it was just some kind of misunderstanding… I'm also supposed to quietly tell everyone to avoid getting piercings from Wanda. Not exactly sure what that's about, but sometimes it's better to just assume Harley's right."

Wade laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So the pancake breakfast?" She asked, feeling more vulnerable than she had in a long time. It wasn't like she desperately needed him there or anything, but it was a town even, and having him not be there would just not fit… right?

"Sure, Doc."

"Great." She smiled slipping back off the barstool and heading for the door, amply aware that his eyes never left her as she walked away.


	6. Chapter 6

**What a difference a Father makes: The crush and the crossbow**

**Disclaimer: Alright, so I have to admit that this is my favorite chapter thus far and I really hope it will be yours as well. As I've said before all credit for the characters, much of the dialog, and the world of Bluebell, belongs to Leila Gerstein and all the other creators of Hart of Dixie. Please continue to review!**

* * *

"You want me to stitch up a pig?" Zoe looked with confusion down at the piglet squirming in the teenage football players arms. This was not what she had imagined when the coach at the high school had called the practice asking for help. "You guys do know I treat people, right?"

"The vets all the way in Mobile." The coach explained pleadingly. "Please, Dr. Hart, he's our mascot."

Zoe looked from the poor little pig, back to the coach again… and then back to the pig. "Okay…

Marching back over the practice after finishing work on the pig Zoe knocked heavily on Brick's door until he answered. "You knew that Beau was a farm animal when you sent me over there didn't you?"

Brick just laughed and nodded, causing Zoe scowl at him before crossing the hall to make note in her file that Brick was a pain in her ass. Harley looked up from his work and shook his head chuckling a little. "I must say, that poor little creature the probably just had the best care of its life."

"Yea…" Zoe scoffed trying to focus back on actual patients. "Let's not tell people about this, okay?"

"I challenge you to stop Brick… and the Coach Murphy will be so happy that Beau is taken care of he'll probably tell everyone."

Zoe through her hands in the air, giving up. "Fine. I'll be the pig doctor. What's worse than that?"

Harley chuckled again and smiled at his daughter. "So I looked at the schedule, we only have a few patients left today… have any big plans for this evening?"

Zoe shrugged. She'd officially been in town nearly two months now and her social circle was still a little smaller than she would like. Yes, she had Wade and Lavon to keep her company on weeknights, occasionally Lemon would summon her for coffee, and Rose seemed to pop-up whenever she had boy troubles, but beyond that she social life was limited to trying to explain to Tom that she was too old for him. "Not much. Lavon's helping the football team, and Wade is working… I'll probably just sit at home and think about how everyone I know back home is being more productive than me."

"I see your mother's phone call last night was helpful." Harley mused. "Well why don't you go out, meet someone, you know… date…"

"Who am I gonna date? Crazy Earl?" Zoe laughed, although her mind was heavily fixed on an image of his son.

Harley laughed again but shrugged his shoulders. He knew what she was thinking, and even if he didn't say it yet, he strongly approved.

* * *

"Okay, and how long have you been experiencing the symptoms? The mild headache, the hangnail." Zoe asked looking at the bubbly blond in front of her like these were serious questions. This was the first patient, other than Shula Whitaker, who had ever come in specifically asking to speak with her, so she was a little excited… and confused being as she had never seen this woman before in her life.

"Couple weeks, few days, don't know." The woman smiled noncommittally. "Is it true you're from New York?"

"Yes."

"How long you been in town?"

Zoe's brow knit and she stared at the woman. "A couple of months… So is the pain just in the front of your head or all around?"

"You datin' anyone?" The girl asked with a bigger grin on her face.

Zoe looked around wondering who was trying to get this strange information. "No, I'm not… I'm supposed to be asking you the questions."

The woman smiled and threw her hands in the air, jumping off the exam table. "Wow, look at that! Headaches gone. You are a great doctor!"

"Wait, what?"

"I'll just take my lolly pop and skedattle!" She woman was gone before Zoe had time to react. What was it with people in this town? Shaking her head she walked back out into the waiting room to try to figure out exactly what had just happened.

* * *

Wandering out of the practice, needing a little fresh air after running into Addie and her husband making out, Zoe decided to stop in at the Rammer Jammer and find out what the gossip was in town. Shelly happily sat her next to the door where she sat examining the menu, which she already had memorize, until George Tucker walked in and approached her with a smile. "Dr. Hart! I hear you stitched up our Beau, I bet you've never done anything like that before."

Zoe shook her head and motioned for him to sit down. "What! No, I did a farm rotation in Med school. Udder Bypasses, beakectimies, gird resection…"

George laughed as he took a seat. "Right. So how's everything going for ya? Lemon said you've been busy at the office lately."

"Yea, as it turns out, Beau is not the only football related injury we have in this town." She laughed. "How about you, been busy?"

"Not particularly. Lemon has me fixing the track for the turtle race tomorrow… big fundraiser for the Memory Matrons." George explained like he would rather be eating nails.

"You don't sound too excited." Zoe laughed. "Not a fan of speedy amphibians?"

He shuddered a little. "One bit my arm last year… they bite."

Zoe laughed at George's clear lack of enthusiasm regarding the turtles. Usually when it came to Lemon's events he was all excited, but this time he seemed genuinely disinclined. "Well in that case I'll make sure I get some Turtle Bite cream for the office on Monday… I'd hate to have an influx of incidents and not be prepared."

"Yea, I'm actually not going. Lemon has given me permission to skip the race this year… for which I am eternally grateful." He flashed his award winning smile at her. "Actually that's why I'm so glad to have run into you. Lemon pulled a clipping out of the paper for a Woody Allen Movie festival in Mobile tomorrow night, and since she figured we'd be the only two people in the state actually inclined to see a Woody Allen movie, she suggested I ask you to join me… says I could use someone to commiserate about New York with. It would be fun to have a friend there… "

Zoe opened and closed her mouth in surprise at the way she was being asked. Then again, going to the movies with George for the evening would be kind of like having a social life, right? "Um… okay. Sounds like fun."

"Good. The movie starts at five, so I'll swing by Lavon's at about 4:15 to get you?" George asked, both of them ignoring how similar to date plans this sounded like.

Zoe nodded that that was fine, and glanced back to the front door just in time to see Wade walk in the restaurant with the same bubbly blond she had met earlier. She had chosen not to notice in the office, but the girl, Tansy, was just Wade's type, and that knowledge suddenly filled Zoe with a large amount of anxiety… which promptly turned to full blown hurt when Wade next spoke.

He didn't see her sitting there by the door when he ushered Tansy in the door with a smile and a laugh. "Hey Shelly, two beers and two more for my wife."

Zoe froze staring at the two for a second, before whispering a hasty goodbye to George and exiting the Rammer Jammer before Wade noticed her. She practically ran back through town in a daze to escape the vision of the world she had never wanted to see. Blasting back through the doors of the practice she threw herself into the chair across from her father who looked up at her over his reading glasses with concern.

"Everything okay darlin'?"

Zoe finally let out the breath she had been holding. "Wade is married?! How could I not know this? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Harley's brow rose and he sat back taking off his glasses. "We didn't know they were still married."

"But how, who, huh?" Zoe tried to wipe the hurt out of her eyes and stop letting it affect her so much. "When?"

"About four years ago. Tansy and Wade were together for a few weeks. Then one night they get rip roarin' drunk and come back married. Just like a bad sitcom, only instead of Vegas it was a shrimp boat in international waters." Harley explained with a sigh, at one time he had found this marriage humorous… now suddenly he saw how devastating the past may be. "It only lasted about four months 'cause they fought all the time. Thought they were divorced, but apparently…"

"There are no single men in Bluebell." Zoe grumbled. After everything she had thought was going on between her and Wade this came as a sudden mind altering blow. Sure they hadn't really been dating or anything, but he had gone with her to the Pancake breakfast, and they were together all the time… she could have sworn there was something building there between them but now… he was married? "Alright. I give up. That's it. There will be no dating for Zoe Hart."

Harley raised an eyebrow as she stood back up dusting herself off and made the short walk over to her desk. Oh hell, if that was how it was going to be now he might be in trouble. Clearly another conversation with Wade would be in order. Just as he was resolving that he would be able to fix this the sound of a knock at the office door drug them both from their thoughts and he looked up to see a father's worse nightmare walk through the door.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Dr. Hart?" The man smiled and Zoe stood up to greet him.

"That's me." She smiled reaching out to shake the man's hand. He was gorgeous. Tall dark and handsome with blue eyes that could go on forever. She could do worse.

"I'm Dr. Judson Lions, I'm a vet up in Mobile." He smiled at her. "I just wanted to thank you for that wonderful job you did on Beau. I've never seen such nice sutures on a pig before."

"Thank you!" She gushed. Smiling wider at the appearance of a beautiful man at what she took to be just the right time.

"Dr. Wilkes." Judson greeted the older doctor with familiarity. "You have another fine doctor I see."

"My daughter." Harley told him harshly, not even feigning to like the man.

Zoe turned around to shoot her father a look, begging him to be nice. "Well thanks for stopping by… I hope Beau's going to be alright."

"He's great…actually I wanted to come and invite you to dinner for all the fine work you've done." Judson smiled at her and Zoe felt her knees melt a little.

But before she could respond Harley did for her. "Actually, Zoe I need you to come with me tonight to the football game… my knees aren't what they used to be and I can't be standing up and down off those benches every time one of the boys get sacked."

"Ahh.. yea, I really should go with him… you never know what's going to happen at those sporting events…" Zoe looked back at her father like he had lost his mind, but turned back to Judson still smiling. "Maybe some other time?"

Judson looked disappointed but nodded and bid her goodbye, looking just as good walking away as he had gracing the doorframe. Zoe spun back around to look at Harley with an exasperated expression. "I thought you wanted me to date!"

Harley looked back down at his work, disinterested. "I do… but not him."

"Why not? He's a doctor… kinda… and he's good looking… and nice… and good looking." She tried to remind Harley of the model of a man who had just walked out of his practice. "Who would you rather I date? The married guy next door?"

"Trust your father on this Zoe, Judson Lions is by no means the man for you." Again Harley didn't look up from the paperwork. "That boy has been leading young women on wild goose chases all over Mobile Bay for the past five years."

Zoe sat back down at her desk and sighed, maybe it was a good thing she wasn't going out that night, it had been a good eight years since she had last been on a real date and she had no idea how one would act in that particular social situation.

* * *

Even though she was well aware of the fact that the football game had just been Harley's stupid excuse to keep her from going out with Judson, Zoe decided to go anyway, having nothing else to do that evening and wanting to stay as far away from Wade as humanly possible. Of course this meant that she had to be over at the high school again that day for the pep rally too. It was only two thirty when she left the office and headed over to the school; sunny and a little cool out she actually felt like the day might be looking up … until she heard a chipper voice call from behind her.

"Dr. Hart! Dr. Hart!" Tansy's childlike voice came closer and closer to her. "Well hello there."

"Hey Tansy" Zoe tried to smile at her. "How's that hangnail."

"Oh, we both know there was nothing wrong with me." The blond admitted, still smiling. "Just came by to check out this electricity hogging New York princess Wade's been complaining about. He is my husband you know."

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. "Yea, so I've heard. Mazel tov."

Tansy smiled wide and waved off the distance to someone, Zoe turned her head to see Wade himself getting out of his car looking even better than he had that morning when he'd raked the grass outside the carriage house. Zoe was starting to feel light headed at the situation she had somehow found herself in. Clearly Tansy was here trying to send her a message, and as the child of crazy cheating parents, Zoe got it loud and clear. "Wade's a great guy."

Wade waved back at them, with a strange look of uncertainty on his face. Tansy bounced a little. "Well, tata, my husband and I have somewhere we need to be."

Zoe stopped and watched as Tansy bounded off too Wade and flung herself into his arms, planting a kiss on his cheek. She refused to cry. Adult doctors don't cry. Pushing the Kinsella's from her mind as much as she could she continued her walk to the high school, feeling like she was still a student.

* * *

Wade led Tansy into George's office with all the confidence he did everything else. Hell, a divorce could be just as exciting as a wedding, right? At least this was one event he might actually remember. "We're getting a divorce Tucker, give us the papers."

"Well hello Wade." George looked up from the case of an actual client and nodded to his friend. "Hey Tansy. Let me just grab them real quick… Alright, I'm assuming not much has changed since I drew these up four years ago? Ah, still no still no children, still no…"

"Money?" Wade finished for him laughing. "Right, which is why we were hopin' you were workin' on commission today."

"Yea, that's right buddy, we'll just add it to your tab." George rolled his eyes, letting Wade take the file out of his hands.

"I can't believe we never got around to signin' it." Tansy laughed.

"Well I did try like four times." Wade reminded her. "But you ah, had that thing with your mom, and then vacation in Branson…so…"

"I've been real swamped." Tansy shrugged noncommittally. "But come on, it hasn't been so hard being married to me. As far as wives go I've been pretty undemandin'."

"You have been pretty easy on that whole fidelity thing." He mused, smiling to himself at all the fun he'd have, and how much easier it was going to be for him to move forward once this was over.

"Okay! So, um, before you sign the divorce papers there is a question I always ask my clients and that is; are you sure that that two of you have done everything in your power to saved your marriage." George asked, not even hiding his disregard for the sentiment.

Wade raised an eyebrow and nodded like George had lost his mind. "Well I ain't seen her in a year. We haven't slept together in three, so it's hard to say… What do you think Tans?"

"I'm afraid my fiancé might take issue with us tryin' again…" Tansy laughed, winking at George a little, which caused him to become visibly uncomfortable.

"Alright, well I think it's time the two of you go ahead and sign those papers."

Wade reached for the pen first with no qualms about signing away his marriage. "And for that legal advice you're goin' to charge us a hundred dollars?"

* * *

"Mr. Kinsella." Harley greeted Wade later that evening, nodding to Shelly who had already begun to set up for the turtle races the next day.

"Evening Dr. Wilkes." Wade nodded looking up from the glass he was wiping, surprised to see the man approaching him to sit in Zoe's usual seat at the bar, rather than his table in the corner. "Is Zoe joinin you for dinner tonight?"

Harley took the menu Wade offered him but shook his head no. "She seemed a little under the weather, so I sent her to the football game in hopes of cheering her up."

"You really think high school football is gonna help?" Wade asked with a laugh. "By the way, Zoe made it very clear she would do me bodily harm if I let you eat anything fried."

"Gumbo then." Harley said definitively looking up. "God knows I don't want you in anymore trouble with my daughter…"

Wade's brow furrowed and he glanced back at the man muddled. "You don't mean to say she's upset tonight because of me…"

Harley looked at Wade over his readers the same way he had Zoe earlier in the day. "I mean to say."

Wade set down the glass he was holding, started at it a moment, and picked it up again, completely at a loss as to what he had done this time. "I'm a little lost here sir."

"It may have been beneficial to you if you had warned her that your wife was visiting…" Harley clucked calmly. "You know, to avoid her feelin' blind sighted with the knowledge that one of her closest friends in town was married…"

"Oh man…" Wade rubbed his head with his hand, suddenly getting a sick feeling in his gut. "I saw her with Tansy earlier, but Tansy never said she… I didn't know she knew. I was gonna mention it to her myself, you know, after the divorce was final and all…"

"And how soon is that going to be?" Harley asked, a little too pointedly.

The Bartender sighed. "We hit a snag…"

"What kind of snag."

"The kind of snag where I tore up the papers to keep Tansy from marrying the King of the Hicks… you remember Todd Ganey Jr.?" Wade asked, reminding himself that what he did was for the greater good.

Harley rolled his eyes and nodded yes. "I seem to remember an incident involving a fish hook through your hand, among other things."

"Well that's nothin' compared to how he and his brothers treated my dad." Wade admitted, thinking back to those early years when his father had worked on the same shrimp boat as Ganey Sr. "He was a bully then, and I know he's a bully now. I can't let her marry him, and this was the only thing I could think of doin' to help."

"You never just considered talkin' to the girl?" Harley asked, wondering why he bothered. "You know, reason with Tansy; voice your concerns and then just let it go?"

"Come on Sir, you know as well as I do that Tansy's like me… we're people of action, we don't respond well to reasonin' and all that Dr. Phil gobbledy gook." The younger man tried to justify, but failed miserably. "It's not like I want to stay married to her…"

Considering, the old man took a sip of the water Wade put in front of him. "You know Wade, I know you're a pretty selfless man…"

"Depends who you talk too."

"I'm talking to you Wade." Harley said sternly. "And I can name several people who would say the same. If there is one honest to God truth in this town, it's that when the gravel hits the road, Wade Kinsella is there for the people he cares about. George knows it. Tansy knows it. Your daddy knows it. And I think my daughter is starting to learn it."

Wade sighed, slightly embarrassed by the turn in conversation, but Harley continued. "I won't pretend that I don't know that you're the silent hero in this town. But when it comes to protecting people who can take care of themselves over creatin' your own happiness… that's when being selfless becomes a crutch and you, my boy, become a martyr."

Wade looked at his shoes to avoid eye contact. He respected Dr. Wilkes as much as anyone one, but the man was starting to confuse him. First it was stay friends with Zoe, but avoid romancin' her, and now here he was telling him to find his own happiness. The old man was smart; he had to know that one command conflicted with the other. "Yea know Doc… I should get your order in…"

"Of course…" Harley nodded, wondering what he had to do to make this young man jump into action.

* * *

Zoe had to admit, the football game was fun. She and Lavon had sat down on the sidelines with the team the whole time, and only once had she had to check for a concussion. Never having been to a high school football game before, Zoe could understand why people enjoyed it. That, and watching Lavon attempt to do cheers alongside the cheerleaders was pretty entertaining. That man was lucky Rose was home sick, otherwise he would be all over Youtube right now.

Of course, the football game couldn't erase her thoughts about the other things in her life that didn't see quite right at the moment, namely, her relationship with her next door neighbor… who's lights were still on now, even though it was close to three am. She told herself to ignore him and just go back to sleep… which is what she had been doing until this sudden wonderful dream about his shrimp boat wedding had jolted her awake. So he was married. What did she care? They were just friends. Just friends… but friends don't keep secrets like that, right? And friends certainly don't jump out of bed at two fifty eight in the morning and walk across alligator infested lands to yell at each other about keeping said secrets.

Zoe sighed and wondered how it was that she lost so much sleep over Wade Kinsella. It wasn't healthy. Maybe she was developing some form of obsession. Maybe she should stop reading Psychology text books before going to bed. Rolling over she forced herself to count cricket chirps until she fell asleep.

* * *

"Zoe? Zoe?" George's voice pulled her back from her scattered thoughts as he pulled his truck into the public parking lot in Mobile. She turned to him and smiled to show she was still awake. "I thought I'd lost you there… I know the law stories can be kinda boring… Lemon is usually only half listening too…"

"What? Oh, no… it was interesting… so the guy didn't have to pay for the fence?"

"Judge deemed it an accident…" He nodded as they got out of his truck and headed towards the theater across the street. The festival was supposed to start momentarily, but from the looks of things there was nobody else there. "Well it's officially, we are the only two Woody Allen fans in the entire eastern shore…"

"Blasphemy!" Zoe joked approaching the box office. "Two please…"

"Oh no you don't, Dr. Hart. I am payin' for the tickets." George put a hand out to stop her.

Zoe shook her head laughing. "You drove, the least I can do is pay for the movie."

"Now what kind of southern gentleman would I be if I let a lady pay for her own tickets. I insist." George refused to relent, stepping in front of her to pay.

Zoe shrugged and let him. "Okay, but if your fiancé gets jealous, I am throwing you under the bus faster than you can say Manhattan. I will not be a the center of a Lemon Breeland grudge match."

George laughed and nodded. "Deal."

The movie was just as she remembered. Funny and romantic, and showcasing everything she so loved and missed about New York, but it also made her melancholy, remembering Woody Allen's face as he realized Tracy was leaving for London. "It kinda breaks your heart, doesn't it? The idea that the person you're supposed to be with can turn out to be the one you thought shouldn't be."

George thought for a minute as they walked through a nearby park after the film, nodding the way he always did when he was thinking deeply. "Yea, I guess… but I think that's what life is about. Making those mistakes and learning from them… we all have an idea of where our lives are supposed to go, but who's to say that's how they should end up. Like you, you thought you were going to be a surgeon in New York, but here you are."

"Says the former New York lawyer…" Zoe laughed, licking the ice cream cone she had bought from one of the venders. "I don't know… maybe I'm over analyzing again. I'm just starting to wonder when all of life's roadblocks are going to start making sense, ya know?"

"Maybe you should stop thinking of Bluebell so much as a roadblock and more as part of your path. I mean look at this…" He gestured around to the beautiful night around them. "You don't get nights like this in New York. You don't get the sky, or the stars, defiantly don't get 75 degree heat in October."

"So how did you end up coming back here anyway?" She finally asked. "You had an awesome job up there… a top firm. How did you decide to give all that up and come back to Bluebell?"

George shrugged. "It wasn't really coming back to Bluebell, so much as coming home to it. Lemon and I had a rough couple of years while I was in New York. I kept on thinkin' she'd join me and she kept thinkin' I'd come back; and at the end of the day who was I kidding 'cause can you imagine Lemon Breeland in New York City?"

"I don't know… A few months ago I couldn't imagine Zoe Hart in Alabama." She laughed. "So, how are things going for Lemon and this crazy Turtle Race thing tonight?"

"Stressful. The NASCAR racer that they had co-hosting the event with her bowed out so she had to scramble to get someone else… luckily Lavon was available… and then she almost clawed my eyes out last night when I went over to Wade's to draw up his divorce papers… again…"

"Again?" Zoe's ears perked up. Not knowing that the place he and Tansy had been going the day before was George's office, Zoe found herself hanging on every word of the story

George gave her a look that showed he was less then thrilled with what he had been dealing with. "Yea, lunatic came into my office yesterday after signin' the first copy and tore them up… then last night he calls me at midnight and insists I come over and we redo them. I was stuck at his house until almost three."

"Wait… why did he tear them up?" Zoe asked, wondering if he was having second thoughts about ending his marriage.

"My guess is to destroy my will to live." George laughed. "I don't know. Something about Tansy's fiancé. Anyway, it took forever for me to get the paper's redone, I kept having to explain that I couldn't make her contractually obligated to end her engagement."

Zoe wasn't sure what to say to that. The whole situation was just more than she could handle, so she got quiet and let George lead her around Mobile, chitter chattering about everything under the sun while she was wrapped up in her mind considering Wade's marriage once again. "Come on Zoe, let me buy you a glass of wine."

* * *

Sitting alone on his porch Wade strummed on his guitar with no actual intent on making music. It had been a quiet day off from the Rammer Jammer, sitting at home alone with his thoughts. But the steady notes from the instrument in his hands were taking away his consentration and for that he was thankful, until the familiar sound of heels on his porch caused him to look up and find his soon to be ex-wife standing there smiling at him.

" Hey Tans, what are you doing here?"

She held out a six pack to him and sat down smiling wider than she had in a while. "I think I know why you really ripped up those divorce papers."

"Cause your fiancé is a grade D douche?"

She shook her head, wrinkling her nose. "Or maybe you are not ready to see me with someone else. Maybe that's why we both put off the divorce so long."

" Ahhh." Wade looked at her like she was crazy. "I didn't put it off, you did."

"Wade look inside yourself. Look at your behavior." Tansy smiled at him like she knew more than he did. "Seems to me you want to give us another chance. We were only together four months."

"Cause all we did was fight." Wade reminded her harshly. "You hated my guts."

Tansy just smiled wider. "I loved you, you goon! I was just never sure if you felt the same."

"Tans…"

"But now that I've seen the way you reacted to me and Colt, well…" She sat up a little straighter like the that was it. "I think I know how you feel."

Wade blinked at her, hoping to God she could understand the expression on his face was one of absolute disinterest. "Tansy, I think you misunderstood. I'm not…"

"You and me, we have always been electric together…" She insisted, leaning toward him seductively. "We just need to give into the passion."

Wade pulled back shaking his head. "Yea, you defiantly misunderstood…. Tansy, I'm not exactly available at the moment… I love someone else."

"What?" She asked, like it was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. "You're in love with someone else?"

"Yea…" Wade nodded smiling, it felt good to finally get that off his chest to another human being. "Yea I am…"

"But we're married!"

"And you're engaged to another guy." He reminded her laughing. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "This is how it's supposed to be Tans. We're both growin' up."

The sound of tires pulled them both from their thoughts as a beatup sedan pulled up in front of Wade's house at high speeds. "Get your hands off my fiancé!"

"Todd Ganey Jr." Wade walked towards the man. Perfect, this was exactly how he had planned his night to go.

"Colt, honey, calm down." Tansy chirped.

Unhappy having this mess on his front lawn Wade put on a game face. "I strongly suggest you go back where you came from boy."

"Well I don't think you're in any position to be making suggestions."

"What'ch you gonna do about it?"

* * *

Getting out of George's truck outside her house after the drive back from Mobile Zoe was surprised to see George get out of the vehicle as well. "Well thanks for the ride home?"

"It was my pleasure. I had a really great time tonight." He smiled at her.

Zoe nodded a little, uncomfortable with how close he was standing to her.

"Lets see ya, son of bitch!" Wade's voice wafted over the pond to the carriage house and both Zoe and George turned in surprise at the sound of a fight. "Come on Ganey, you couldn't pull the trigger if you tried!"

Running over, the sight that unfolded in front of them didn't seem to shock George as much as it did Zoe. Wade noticed them first and gave Zoe a weak smile. "Sorry guys, now's not a real good time to hang. This gentleman claims he's gonna kill me now."

From behind the car parked beside Wade's house came a man that Zoe could only presume to be Tansy's fiancé, carrying a weapon Zoe had never seen before, pointed all the while at Wade.

"We weren't doin' nothin'." Tansy insisted, like she wasn't involved at all with the scenario in front of her.

"Colt, lets just be reasonable here." George spoke as calmly as he could.

"What is that thing anyway?" Zoe asked staring at the weapon.

"It's a crossbow, what planet are you from!" Tansy snapped at Zoe like it was all her fault.

"Go ahead Todd, Go ahead and shoot me, I dare you." Wade taunted, adrenaline coursing through him.

Zoe had to stifle a yelp. "Wade!"

"Wade shut up, he will!" Tansy didn't help.

"Colt, I need you to think here, 'cause you're not thinkin'." George directed, moving to stand next his best friend and trying to reason with the man.

"His names not Colt, its Todd Ganey Jr, and if you ever need proof that he's a degenerate look at him now!" Wade continued to pick a fight with the man, completely missing the terror that was spreading over Zoe's face at the exchange.

"Don't listen to him! Look at me." George ordered Colt again. This time drawing the man's attention. "Colt, look at me, I am a lawyer. And I can tell you, that what you are about to do is commit a serious felony. I'm talkin' major jail time. Now, whatever it is that you think Wade has done, even if he did it…"

"Which I didn't!"

"Shut up, Wade." George snapped at his friend, maintaining eye contact with the assailant. "He's not worth it, it's not worth all that. So why don't you just give me that thing. Come on Colt, just hand it over."

With a bit of trepidation Colt reached out the crossbow and let George take it from his hands, allowing everyone else to breath a deep sigh of relief. Zoe wiped the tears that she hadn't realized were forming out from under her eyes and send Wade another questioning look.

"Tansy, don't be mad." Colt spoke sweetly to his fiancé. "I only did it because I love you."

Tansy didn't look in the least bit put off by his actions. "Next time, try flowers."

Zoe had enough, staring at the woman who had caused her an amazing amount of pain and suffering over the past few days. "Seriously, you're joking now? You're lucky you didn't shoot someone, you lunatic!"

As she was speaking she watched as George went to toss the weapon onto the ground, and Wade yell something about a safety. The next moment was as if in slow motion as she watched the crossbow go off and shoot an arrow directly at her two friends. Zoe had no time to react as the arrow whizzed through the air and lodged itself squarely into Wade's leg.

* * *

"Harley, thanks for meeting me." Zoe hailed her father as she and George rushed Wade into the office. Unwilling to deal with anymore of Tansy's charms, Zoe had demanded that the woman vacate the plantation as they had loaded Wade into the car. Zoe watched him with concern, but the young man sat stony faced all the way to the office, not opening his mouth once to avoid looking weak.

"How's he doing?" Harley asked, helping Wade onto the exam table.

"I can't believe I shot him in the leg with a crossbow!" The calm George had exhibited earlier had disappeared with sound of Colts tires squealing away. "I know how to handle a crossbow."

"Alright Mr. Tucker…" Harley started to pull the man from the room. "It's probably better if you wait out here with me… give Dr. Hart a chance to fix up Mr. Kinsella."

"I am so sorry man!" George lamented one more time before Harley shut the door behind them.

Zoe held up a syringe full of morphine to Wade and nodded to him. "This is going to hurt a little, okay, but it's going to make getting that thing out a whole lot more bearable."

Wade said nothing as she stuck him in the arm with the needle, but continued to watch her as she pulled out some scissors to cut away his jeans around the injury. "What we're you thinking anyway, canoodling with another man's girl. Didn't you know her fiancé was a crossbow wielding lunatic?"

Wade sighed as she inspected the site and winced just a little when she touched the arrow to determine the trajectory. "That's not exactly how it went down, Doc."

"Yea?" She asked looking up at him for clarification. "So that wasn't you taunting the guy to just shoot you? You scared the hell out of me, by the way."

Wade looked up at her, catching the sincerity in her eyes. "I'm sorry Zoe."

"You can't be doing that stuff anymore." She announced, working rather than looking at him, much the same way her father did when he was saying something important. "You could have gotten yourself killed… don't do that."

He finally audibly winced in pain when she gave him another shot to numb the pain around the wound. "You almost sound concerned Doc."

She glanced back up at him and rolled her eyes. "The arrow went all the way through… we're going to have to cut of the tip before we pull it out…"

"Doc…"

"How's the pain?" She asked, ignoring the emotional sound in his voice. "Because the morphine should be kicking in at any time."

"Bearable." He lied. "Are you just going to ignore me here or what?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm about to remove something from your leg, that's kind of the opposite of ignoring you. Now pass out already so I can work in peace."

"I didn't lay a finger on Tansy…" He told her, wincing again. "We were just talking…"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Thought you should know…" Wade blinked as the morphine started to hit him and he fought to stay awake. The haze was falling over his eyes, but the drunk feeling gave him confidence too. "… the only woman I plan on spending any time with is…"

And he was out cold.

Zoe exhaled deeply and laughed a little in surprise. She had a good idea what he was about to say, but still wished she had gotten to actually hear him say the words. A knock on the door pulled her from the momentary stupor and she turned around to see Harley stepping in to help.

"I thought two hands might be better than one…" The older doctor told her, looking over Wade's wound with interest. "Did you too have a good talk?"

"He tried too…" Zoe laughed as the two went back to work.

* * *

"Man I am so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am…" George apologized for the ten thousandth time as he helped Wade out of the truck and back up to the gatehouse. Zoe slid out of car as well and followed the two men up the stairs, exhausted. It was nearly one in the morning and she felt like she'd been awake for the last three weeks. George was still being contrite as she walked in ordered him to deposit and equally fatigued looking Wade into his bed.

"Do you want me to stay tonight? Help you out?" George asked his friend.

"I'll stay. You get back to Lemon. " Zoe answered for Wade when the expression on his face threatened to turn to something less then friendly.

George's face screwed up a little with a discomfort that was wholly uncalled for. "Are you sure."

"Geeze, Tucker, she's a doctor. I think she's got this one covered." Wade called from the bed where he was fighting to pull a sheet over himself. "Just go. The woman lives 60 yards away, if she wants to go home she will."

George having nothing to argue about left with a wave goodbye and a final apology to his oldest friend. Zoe sighed again and ran her hands through her hair before turning back to Wade with a reassuring smile, walking over to pick the sheet up from the floor where he had thrown it in frustration. "Okay, you have exactly two days to act like a baby over this, and after that I am done codling you. Got it?"

He smirked a little at the idea and looked up at her hopefully. "Sexy Nurse's costume?"

"Do I look like a nurse to you?" Zoe snapped, stepping back from the bed indignantly.

Wade's hand reached out to hers and pulled her back. "No, you look like the doctor that keeps stitchin' me up…"

Zoe laughed, but let him keep holding her hand. "I think you have me confused with my father."

Wade shook his head. "No, I'm talkin' about you."

"It's been a long day. You should get some sleep." Zoe ordered, starting to pull away to make a bed on the couch. She wanted nothing more than to ask him about what he had been going to say before he passed out, but now that his mind was clearer it didn't seem likely that he'd actually respond. But then again, he wasn't letting go of her hand either.

"I'd sleep better if you stayed over here, Doc." He told her softly. "You know, in case anyone comes in and tries to kill me…"

She had to laugh at how he used her logic against her. Nodding she pulled free of his grasp and went to lock the door and turn off the lights before climbing into bed next to him. "I promise if any ghosts come in I'll do my best to shoo them away. Besides there's already been one attempt on your life today, I think we're clear for a while… Although, you do have a talent for pissing people off."

"You always say the nicest things."

"Shut up and go to sleep." She giggled, reaching over to the bedside table to turn off the last light, amazed at how comfortable this all felt.

Wade turned his head to watch her for a minute and smiled. Even after getting shot he was still beginning to count this day as one of the best in his life. Things seemed clearer now, and he was truly hopeful for his future. "Hey Zoe?"

"What?"

"Do you wanna, maybe, I don't know…" He laughed at how hard it was to formulate the words that he'd said a million times to other girls. "… Do you wanna go on a date with me?"

"You mean you can think of something more fun than the evening you provided us tonight?" She asked casually, trying her best to hide the flutter in her chest. "That might be tough, but sure… let's give it a chance."


End file.
